Glossary

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A

AAT: Administrative Appeals Tribunal
ACARA: The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority is the independent authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, a national assessment program and a national data collection and reporting program.
ACCI: Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
ACHRA: Australian Council of Human Rights Authorities
ACT: Australian Capital Territory
ACTU: Australian Council of Trade Unions
ADA: Age Discrimination Act 2004
ADF: The Australian Defence Force consists of the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of ‘tri-service’ units.
ADFA: The Australian Defence Force Academy is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force.
AHRCA: Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
ALRC: Australian Law Reform Commission
ANAO: Australian National Audit Office
APF: The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions is a member-based organisation that supports the establishment and strengthening of independent national human rights institutions in the Asia Pacific region.
APS: Australian Public Service
AusAID: Australian Agency for International Development
Action Plan: A voluntary mechanism for organisations to structure their own compliance efforts.
Amicus curiae: The role of amicus curiae – ‘friend of the court’ – is to provide special assistance to the court in resolving issues raised by the case and to draw attention to aspects of the case that might otherwise have been overlooked.

B

Braille: A tactile form of reading and writing used by people who are blind or vision impaired, invented by Louis Braille in 1829.

C

CDS: Commonwealth Disability Strategy
CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
CEO: Chief Executive Officer
COAG: Council of Australian Governments
CTGSC: Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee. The Close the Gap Campaign is Australia’s largest public movement for health equality and seeks to achieve equal health outcomes and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian public by 2030.
Commission on the Status of Women: This United Nations body is responsible for policy-making body on gender equality and the advancement of women and girls.
Commission, the: Australian Human Rights Commission
Concluding Observations: Following the review of a state party report and information from other sources, the relevant United Nations treaty body will issue a set of ‘Concluding Observations’, containing its collective assessment of the State’s record and recommendations for enhanced implementation of the rights in question.
Consultancy contract: A contract that typically defines the nature, purpose and duration of the task to be performed, but not (in any detail) the manner in which the task is to be performed by a consultant. The consultant is usually paid on completion of milestones or in a lump sum.
Consultancy service: A particular type of service delivered under a contract for services, distinguished from other contracts by the nature of the work performed. Consultancy services involve the application of expert professional skills to: investigate or diagnose a defined issue or problem, carry out defined research, reviews or evaluations; or provide independent advice, information or creative solutions to assist the agency in management decision making.
Consultant: An entity (whether an individual, a partnership or a corporation) engaged to provide professional independent and expert advice or services. Consultants are not employees of the department and are not paid wages or other employee entitlements.
Cyberbullying: A form of bullying carried out through an internet service, mobile phone or other electronic device.

D

DDA: Disability Discrimination Act 1992

E

EL: Executive Level
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Comprised of five independent experts, this United Nations body provides thematic expertise on the rights of indigenous peoples to the Human Rights Council.

F

Fair Work Commission: The Fair Work Commission is the national workplace relations tribunal. It is an independent body with power to carry out a range of functions relating to the safety net of minimum wages and employment conditions; enterprise bargaining; industrial action; dispute resolution; termination of employment; and other workplace matters.
FaHCSIA: Former Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

G

GST: Goods and Services Tax
General Assembly: One of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all Member States have equal representation. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions.
General Comment: Each of the United Nations treaty bodies publishes its interpretation of the provisions of its respective human rights treaty in the form of ‘General Comments’ or ‘General Recommendations’. These cover a wide range of subjects, from the comprehensive interpretation of substantive provisions, such as the right to life, to general guidance on the information that should be submitted in state reports relating to specific articles of the treaties. General comments have also dealt with wider, cross-cutting issues, such as the role of national human rights institutions, violence against women and the rights of minorities.

H

Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program: In August 1997, China and Australia initiated a high level dialogue on human rights during the course of which it was agreed that the two countries would undertake a program of technical cooperation. The goal of the Program is to strengthen the administration, promotion and protection of human rights in China.

I

ICCPR: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976, which commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.
IFA: Individual flexibility agreement. Under the Fair Work Act, an IFA varies the effect of the Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement so that it can “meet the genuine needs of the employer and that individual employee” in an individual context.
ILO: The International Labour Organization is the world’s only tripartite multilateral agency which is dedicated to bringing decent work and livelihoods, job-related security and better living standards to the people of both poor and rich countries.
IPS: Information Publication Scheme

J

Justice reinvestment: A criminal justice strategy where a portion of public funds that would have been spent on covering the costs of imprisonment are diverted to local communities that have
a high concentration of offenders. The money is invested in community programs, services and activities that aim to address the underlying causes of crime in those communities.

K

Komnas HAM: Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights

L

LGBTI: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender diverse and intersex people.

N

Native title: A pre-existing property interest, held communally or individually by Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, which is capable of being recognised by Australia’s common law. Native title can exist over land and waters where Aboriginal people
or Torres Strait Islanders maintain traditional laws and customs that give them a connection to the specified area. Native title rights are not granted by governments or courts. Native title is not an underlying title but rather a bundle of rights that can be extinguished by inconsistent acts of government.
NGO: non-governmental organisation
NHRI: national human rights institution
NHLF: The National Health Leadership Forum of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples comprises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health-related bodies. It was established to liaise with government in the development of health policy relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NSW: New South Wales
NT: Northern Territory

O

Operations: Functions, services and processes performed in pursuing the objectives or discharging the functions of an agency.
Outcomes: The results, impacts or consequence of actions by the Commission on the Australian community.
Outputs: The goods or services produced by agencies on behalf of government for external organisations or individuals. Outputs include goods and services produced for other areas of government external to an agency.

P

Parliament: The Parliament of Australia
Podrights: A podcast from the Australian Human Rights Commission

Q

Qld: Queensland

R

RAP: Reconciliation Action Plan. A self-generated plan that helps organisations build positive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, through engagement within their sphere of influence, in the national effort to close the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and other Australians.
RDA: Racial Discrimination Act 1975

S

SDA: Sex Discrimination Act 1984
SES: Senior Executive Service
Service charter: Public statements about the service that a department or agency will provide.
SA: South Australia

T

Tas: Tasmania
TTY: Text Telephone or teletypewriter. A special device that lets people who are deaf, hearing impaired, or speech-impaired use the telephone to communicate, by allowing them to type messages back and forth to one another, instead of talking and listening.

U

UN: United Nations
UNDRIP: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UNPFII: The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.
UPR: The Universal Periodic Review is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 Member States once every four years. It provides the opportunity for each State to declare the actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Adopted unanimously by the United Nations on 10 December 1948, it is the foundation on which much international law has been based. It sets out the fundamental rights of all people, including the right to life; freedom from slavery, torture and arbitrary arrest; freedom of thought, opinion and religion; the right to a fair trial and equality before the law; the right to work and education; and the right to participate in the social, political and cultural life of one’s country.

V

Vic: Victoria

W

WA: Western Australia
Workplace diversity: The central principle of workplace diversity is the creation of workplaces free from discrimination, harassment and bullying.
WHS: Workplace health and safety