The Kaldor Centre Oration
Join us for the 2026 Kaldor Centre Oration on Tuesday, 20 October at UNSW Sydney.
Tuesday, 20 October 2026, UNSW Sydney
Australians pride themselves on living in a country where anyone can have a good life and feel they belong. But is that the reality for those who have to start from scratch with a new language, new culture and new home? At a time when political grandstanding and immigration scapegoating spill over into everyday attitudes, how can we build a society where people forced to leave their homeland can get a fair go?
Join Mariam Veiszadeh as she reflects on her journey from fleeing Afghanistan as a young girl, to building a life in Australia as a lawyer, advocate and human rights champion. Across countries, cultures and languages, Mariam’s story is a powerful testament to resilience and paying it forward.
In a keynote talk and conversation with host Nicole Abadee, Mariam will share her views on how we need to reframe the debate on belonging – and what it might take to ensure all Australians have the same opportunities.
About the speakers
Mariam Veiszadeh
Mariam Veiszadeh is an award-winning executive, lawyer and human rights advocate. She came to Australia as a refugee from Afghanistan and has spent more than a decade working on anti-racism, belonging and cultural diversity, including as a spokesperson for the Afghan Australian Advocacy Network during the fall of Kabul. She is Executive Director at MindTribes, founder and Chair of the Islamophobia Register Australia, and former inaugural CEO of Media Diversity Australia. A TEDx speaker and experienced non-executive director, Mariam was named the 2023 Most Influential Asian-Australian of the Year.
Nicole Abadee
Nicole Abadee is a freelance journalist and event moderator who writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and Harper’s Bazaar. Nicole is a regular moderator at writers’ festivals including Sydney Writers’ Festival, Adelaide Writers’ Week, Canberra Writers’ Festival, the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She has been a literary judge, podcaster and a guest on ABC Radio to discuss books. Nicole is a board member of the Eleanor Dark Foundation, which runs Varuna, the National Writers’ House, and is on the Advisory Council of the Sydney Women’s Fund.
This event is co-presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and the Kaldor Centre.
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About the Kaldor Centre Oration
The Kaldor Centre Oration is a flagship lecture hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney.
The Oration enriches the public conversation on refugee issues by showcasing transformational ideas that can spark fresh thinking and action. It is a valuable opportunity to build shared understanding and positive solutions.
The inaugural 2024 event built upon the Kaldor Centre’s track record of thought leadership, stemming from more than a decade of principled, evidence-based contributions to the refugee debate.
The Oration is held every two years, alternating with the Kaldor Centre Conference, our world-class forum facilitating rich engagement with experts on key contemporary displacement issues. The Oration adds a new and widely accessible gateway to leading thinkers who can challenge, inspire and equip audiences to advance solutions. Together they deepen and broaden the debate at a time when thoughtful discussion of displacement is so greatly needed.
We welcome anyone interested in creating a better future – be they people with lived experience of displacement, civil society, legal practitioners, policymakers, business leaders or community members – to join us for this lively evening of thought-provoking ideas, discussion and connection.
Explore past events
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The 2024 Kaldor Centre Oration
The inaugural Kaldor Centre Oration was delivered by Kate Eastman AM SC and Zaki Haidari on Thursday 21 November 2024 at the Playhouse Theatre, National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), in Sydney Australia.
Among their many accomplishments, Kate Eastman AM SC is a barrister at New Chambers and a Commissioner at the New South Wales Law Reform Commission, and Zaki Haidari is a refugee rights advocate with Amnesty International.
Their powerful, moving reflections – on the ‘Tampa affair’ and its ramifications for refugees in the years since – are now available as video and podcast recordings for you to revisit and share with others.
About the speakers
Kate Eastman AM SC
Kate Eastman AM SC is a Sydney barrister working in the fields in human rights, discrimination, employment, public and constitutional law. Over her 30 years practicing as a lawyer, Kate has been committed to human rights and equality. At Allens, she represented asylum seekers in detention in Port Hedland. She then worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission before joining the Bar in 1998. Between 2019 – 2023, she was Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She has taught human rights law at UTS, Monash University and the University of Sydney, and in Burma and Uganda. Kate is chair of the Australian Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Law Council of Australia’s Equal Opportunity Committee. In 2023, she was appointed a Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission.
Kate has received the Law and Justice Foundation’s Justice Award (2003), the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights Award for Law (2019), a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Lawyers Association (NSW) (2022), and the Law Council of Australia’s President’s Award (2022). She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, to human rights, and to professional organisations.
Zaki Haidari
Zaki Haidari is a 2020 Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Hero, an Ambassador for Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), and works at Amnesty International Australia as a Strategic Campaigner. Zaki is also a highly respected commentator in the media on refugee rights.
Zaki is himself a refugee. He fled Afghanistan at age 17, targeted by the Taliban after his father was ‘disappeared’ and this brother murdered. He survived a terrifying boat journey and arrived in Australia seeking protection in 2012.
Since then, despite social, legal and financial obstacles, he has thrived. Having arrived with little English, in 2015, just three years after he came to Australia, he won the NSW Government’s International Student of the Year Award (2015). He has also completed a Diploma in Computing and a Diploma in Graphic Design.Zaki is a compelling human rights advocate. Even while he was on a temporary protection visa, and since he was granted permanent protection, Zaki has continually and courageously shared his experience and expertise with the media and the wider community, speaking out about the cruel regime of permanent temporariness faced by people like him who came to Australia by sea seeking safety.