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Face the Facts (2008)FTF Cover

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Glossary


Aboriginal
Comes from the Latin term ‘ab origine’ which means ‘from the beginning’ and refers to the original inhabitants of a particular place.
In Australia, an Aboriginal person is someone who is of Aboriginal descent, identifies as an Aboriginal person and is accepted as an Aboriginal person by the community in which he or she lives.


Assimilation
The process of absorbing or being absorbed into a group or system so that elements are the same. In Australia during the 20th Century, policies of ‘assimilation’ sought to make Aboriginal people and migrants the same as ‘mainstream’ Australian society.


Asylum seeker
A person who requests protection in another country from persecution and recognition of his or her status as a refugee.


ATSIC
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was Australia's national representative Indigenous organisation. ATSIC advised governments on Indigenous issues, advocated for Indigenous people at the local, regional, national and international levels and monitored how other government agencies provide services to their Indigenous clients. ATSIC ceased to exist from midnight 23 March 2005. ATSIC's functions were transferred to mainstream government agencies.


ATSIS
Until 2003, ATSIC was responsible for administering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and making individual funding decisions. From 1 July 2003, this function was transferred to a new Executive Agency, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS). ATSIS was also abolished by the Government in March 2005, and its functions transferred to mainstream government agencies.


Citizenship Testing
The test was introduced in 2007 and requires those seeking Australian citizenship to have a basic understanding of English and an adequate knowledge of Australia and Australian values.


Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989
The United Nations Convention which sets out the way all human rights (including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights) should be protected for children and young people. Australia adopted the Convention in 1990.


Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (Refugee Convention)
The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees defines who is a refugee, specifies their rights and outlines the legal obligations of member states towards refugees.


Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1987 (CAT)
The Convention defines 'torture' as an act perpetrated by or with the approval of government officials which is designed to inflict extreme physical and/or psychological suffering for a purpose such as extracting information. Member states must prosecute or extradite alleged torturers. Australia adopted CAT in 1989.


Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007
A United Nations resolution setting out how existing human rights apply to the situation of indigenous peoples around the world. It covers, civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights as well as some collective rights.


DIAC
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship.


Excised off-shore places
Parts of Australian territory which have been removed from Australia's migration zone: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Island as well as various other off-shore sea and resource installations.


Family Stream migrants
A visa category which allows people to migrate to Australia on the basis of their relationship with a sponsor who is a close family member and an Australian resident or citizen. Most Family Stream Migrants are the spouses or fiancés of Australian residents or citizens.


Humanitarian Program
The part of Australia's permanent immigration program under which refugees and other people who need humanitarian assistance can apply to come to or stay in Australia on a permanent or long-term basis.


Immigrant
A person who moves to another country with the intention of settling there permanently.


Immigration detention
The Commonwealth Government have announced a change in immigration detention policy. Details of the new policy will be forthcoming. Under the old policy people who are not Australian citizens and who do not hold a valid visa must be detained. While the law applies to people who overstay their visas and to people whose visas have been cancelled, the biggest group in immigration detention are asylum seekers who arrived in Australia without a valid visa.


Indigenous peoples
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are referred to as Indigenous peoples. The use of the term ‘indigenous’ acknowledges a particular relationship of aboriginal people to the territory from which they originate. Using the plural ‘peoples’ acknowledges collective, rather than purely individual dimension of their lives.


International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR)
This Covenant translates the civil and political rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 into firm obligations undertaken by member states. It covers the rights to equality before the law and to freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention, among others, prohibits torture and slavery and restricts use of the death penalty. Australia adopted the ICCPR in 1980.


International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966
This Covenant translates the economic, social and cultural rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 into obligations undertaken by member states. It requires member states to progressively realise rights such as free education, highest attainable standard of health, rights to work and fair conditions at work and rights to access culture.


International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination 1965 (CERD)
This convention outlines the obligations that member states have in eliminating racial discrimination. It states the non-discriminatory nature of human rights and the right to equality before the law. Australia ratified CERD in 1975 with the enactment of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth).


Land rights
In a land rights claim, Indigenous Australians seek legal ownership of land from Commonwealth, state or territory governments. Land rights legislation was adopted in several states and the Northern Territory before native title was recognised by the common law in the Mabo Case.


Mabo Case
A landmark legal case in which Eddie Mabo, together with four other Meriam people from the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait, proved they had native title rights to their land. There were two High Court decisions in this case.
Mabo (No.1) (1988) invalidated Queensland legislation which sought to remove the Murray Islanders' native title without compensation finding that it was inconsistent with the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
Mabo (No.2) (1992) rejected the doctrine of 'terra nullius' - that Australia did not belong to anyone at the time of European settlement - and recognised that Indigenous people who have maintained a continuing connection with their country according to their traditions and customs may hold native title rights over that land.


Migration Program
The part of Australia's permanent immigration program under which people can apply to come to or stay in Australia permanently on the basis of their employment skills or their family ties with a sponsor who is a permanent resident or citizen of Australia.


Migration zone
The migration zone is made up of the land area of all the states and territories of Australia and the waters of proclaimed ports within those states and territories. The land area starts at the mean low water mark. The migration zone does not include the territorial sea that is off the coast of the Australian states and territories. The purpose of the migration zone is to define the area of Australia where a non-citizen must hold a visa in order to legally enter and remain in Australia. Anyone who enters the migration zone, including Australian citizens, must present themselves for immigration clearance.


Multicultural
Describes the diversity of cultures and backgrounds that make up modern Australian society.


Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is a government policy that recognises and celebrates Australia's cultural diversity and seeks to address the challenges and opportunities arising from it.


The Commonwealth Government has identified three dimensions of multicultural policy:

Native title
Indigenous peoples' rights to land or waters held according to their traditional laws and customs. First recognised in the common law in the Mabo Case and then implemented in legislation in the Native Title Act 1993.


Northern Territory Intervention
A package of ‘emergency’ legislation and policy put in place in the Northern Territory by the federal government in 2007. Also known as the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’ (NTER).


Permanent Protection Visa
This visa recognises refugee status and provides permanent asylum in Australia. Entitlements include immediate access to a full range of settlement services, social security benefits, family reunion and the right to leave the country and return. Refugees who apply overseas and refugees who apply while in Australia on another valid visa will be granted a Permanent Protection Visa.


Reconciliation
The movement for Aboriginal reconciliation aims to foster understanding of the historic relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and develop more harmonious and cooperative relations for the future.


Refugee
The 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol define a refugee as someone who: owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his [or her] nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself [or herself] of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his [or her] former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.


Self-determination
Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), repeated identically in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 (ICESCR), states that self-determination is the right of all peoples to 'freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development'.


Skill Stream migrants
A visa category which allows people to migrate to Australia on the basis of their occupation, education, work experience, age and English language ability.


Special Eligibility category
A visa category that allows former residents and certain categories of non-citizens who spent their formative years in Australia to migrate to Australia.


Special measures
A 'special measure' gives a group an extra benefit (additional to those enjoyed by the rest of the community) to help remedy a legacy of discrimination or disadvantage against that particular group. For example, Aboriginal Medical Services are a 'special measure' in recognition of the gross health disparities affecting Indigenous Australians. A 'special measure' is an exception to the general rule prohibiting racial discrimination. It is lawful if its sole purpose is to advance the equal enjoyment of human rights of a racial or ethnic group.


'Stolen children' or 'Stolen Generations'
The popular terms describing the Indigenous children forcibly removed from their parents (without parental consent or a court order) by government authorities across Australia, starting as early as the 1870s in some places and continuing into the 1960s in some states, with the aim of assimilating them into non-Aboriginal society.


Terra nullius
A Latin term meaning 'not inhabited'. Australia was colonised by the British in the belief that the colony was being acquired by occupation (or settlement) of a 'terra nullius'. The High Court's Mabo decision in 1992 overturned the 'terra nullius' fiction by recognising that Indigenous property rights survived the British colonisation of Australia.


Temporary Protection Visa
This visa category was abolished in 2008. It recognised refugee status but only provided temporary asylum in Australia. Entitlements did not include access to settlement services, most social security benefits, sponsorship of family members to Australia or the right to leave Australia and return. Most refugees who arrived in Australia without a valid visa could only apply for a Temporary Protection Visa. Refugees who arrive in Australia can now make an application for a Permanent Protection Visa.


Torres Strait Islander
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989 defines a Torres Strait Islander as 'a descendant of an Indigenous inhabitant of the Torres Strait Islands'. The Torres Strait Islands lie between the tip of Cape York in Queensland and Papua New Guinea.


'Unauthorised arrivals'
The term most commonly used for people who arrive in Australia without a valid visa. Under the Migration Act the correct legal term is 'unlawful non-citizens'. Unlawful non-citizens must be detained until removed from Australia or granted a visa.


United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The UNHCR leads and co-ordinates international action to protect refugees worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It aims to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state, with the option to return home voluntarily (where possible), integrate locally in a host community or to resettle in a third country.


Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR)
Adopted in the aftermath of World War II by the newly-established United Nations General Assembly, the Universal Declaration proclaimed the basic rights and freedoms to which everyone, regardless of nationality, is entitled. These include, among others, the rights to life, liberty, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to work, to education and freedom from persecution. Unlike conventions and covenants, the Universal Declaration was not originally binding. However, it is now recognised as binding on all UN members.


White Australia policy
A series of laws and policies implemented in Australia from 1901 until the 1970s which aimed to keep people who were not from a white European background out of the country. These laws also restricted the lives of Indigenous people and other people already in Australia who were not considered 'white'.

[1] Department of Immigration and Citizenship, National Agenda for a Multicultural Society, 2008, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/agenda/agenda89/whatismu.htm (viewed 22 September 2008)