Glossary

a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
ABCsearch for term
Australian Broadcasting Commission
ACTUsearch for term
Australian Council of Trade Unions
ACTUQsearch for term
Australian Council of Trade Unions, Queensland Branch. Succeeded the Trades and Labor Council of Queensland in 1993 as the representative body of the State’s trade union movement. In 1999 the body was again renamed as the Queensland Council of Unions.
AECsearch for term
Australian Electoral Commission
AEUsearch for term
Amalgamated Engineering Union
AI Groupsearch for term
Australian Industry Group
AIBNsearch for term
Australian Institute of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, located at the University of Queensland
AIGsearch for term
Australian Industry Group
AIMSsearch for term
Australian Institute of Marine Science
ALPsearch for term
Australian Labor Party. The bitter defeat of the 1891 Shearers’ Strike was the catalyst that prompted the formation of the Labor Party by trade unionists and their supporters. The interviewees commonly refer to the Labor Party and its various factions. All parties have internal groups but the Labor Party has a formalised factional system. Interviewees refer to the factions by a range of titles, which change over time. In Queensland, the Socialist Left was formed in the late 1970s but a split during the 1990s resulted in the moderate left (Labor Left, Soft Left) forming. The two left factions are now united and known simply as the Left. On the right the AWU has traditionally been the strongest group. At times it has been known as Centre Majority. The AWU now acts in concert with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association and is known as Labor Forum. The other right faction is the Old Guard (Centre Unity), now entitled Labor Unity. The title Old Guard was previously used to refer to the Trades Hall Group that came to dominate the party in the wake of the 1957 split and continued to do so, until the 1980 intervention. Former reformers, such as Peter Beattie, initially formed the Centre Left, then renamed as Centre Caucus but over the years joined forces with Labor Unity.
AMAsearch for term
Australian Medical Association
AMIEUsearch for term
Australian Meat Industry Employees Union
AMWUsearch for term
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
ANTARsearch for term
Australian National Training Authority
APECsearch for term
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
APPEAsearch for term
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association
ARUsearch for term
Australian Railways Union
ATEAsearch for term
Australian Telecommunications Employees Association
ATSIsearch for term
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
AWAssearch for term
Australian Workplace Agreements. Individual workplace contracts negotiated between an employee and his/her employer, in place of collective bargaining agreements. These contractual arrangements were introduced under the Howard federal government's Workplace Relations Act 1996, and their terms could override most employment and award conditions in any state or territory in Australia. The negotiation of new AWAs was banned under the Rudd federal government's Fair Work Act 2009.
AWUsearch for term
Australian Workers Union
Bailiwicksearch for term
Area of jurisdiction; a person's area of skill, knowledge or training
BCCsearch for term
Brisbane City Council
BCRsearch for term
Benefit-to-Cost Ratio
BFUEsearch for term
Bacon Factory Union of Employees
Biosciences Precinctsearch for term
A cluster of research institutes built at the University of Queensland in the early 2000s using funds from the state and federal governments, philanthropy and the university.
BLFsearch for term
Builders Labourers Federation
BWIUsearch for term
Building Workers Industrial Union of Australia
Cabinet Officesearch for term
This was created by the Goss Government in 1991 and was headed by Kevin Rudd as its Director General. The Office assumed a centralised role in the Premier’s Department and in the public service more broadly, coordinating the formulation of policy and the procedural routines of Cabinet submissions. Among its planning areas were the Women’s Policy Unit and the increasingly important Economic Policy Unit. The Office was later disbanded by the incoming Borbidge Government in early 1996.
CAEsearch for term
College of Advanced Education
Carruthers Inquirysearch for term
A Criminal Justice Commission inquiry into the Memorandum of Understanding between the incoming Borbidge Government and the Queensland Police Union.
CAUsearch for term
College Academics Union
CBRCsearch for term
Cabinet Budget Review Committee
CDEPsearch for term
Community Development Employment Project
CEPUsearch for term
Communications, Electricians and Plumbers Union
CESsearch for term
Commonwealth Employment Service
CFMEUsearch for term
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
CIBsearch for term
Criminal Investigation Branch of the Queensland Police Service
CITECsearch for term
Communication and Information Technology service provider
CJCsearch for term
Criminal Justice Commission. The Criminal Justice Commission was formed in 1989 to address concerns brought to light during the Fitzgerald Inquiry. The commission conducted a number of inquires, such as the 1992 investigation into travel rorts.
CMCsearch for term
Crime and Misconduct Commission was established in 2002 by the Beattie Government, incorporating the previous Criminal Justice Commission.
COAGsearch for term
The Council of Australian Governments was formed in 1992.
CoGsearch for term
Coordinator General
Community unionismsearch for term
Providing services and benefits to both union and non-union members
COMPSTATsearch for term
Comparative Statistics
Connolly-Ryan Inquirysearch for term
An inquiry established in 1996 by the Borbidge Government to investigate the Criminal Justice Commission. After questions were raised about the potential partiality of the inquiry it was shut down.
Coombs Reportsearch for term
The Coombs Report is the colloquial name given to the Royal Commission into Australian Government Administration conducted in 1974. The influential report suggested a wide range of reforms.
Country Party/National Partysearch for term
The Country Party was founded in 1922. The party has traditionally been the dominant partner in coalition arrangements in Queensland. In 1975 the party changed its name to the National Party. The National Party in Queensland has since merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal National Party.
CPAsearch for term
Communist Party of Australia
CPIsearch for term
Consumer Price Index
CPSUsearch for term
Community and Public Sector Union. Formed in 1994 after the amalgamation of the federal Public Sector Union and the State Public Services Federation.
CRA disputesearch for term
CRA, or Conzinc Riotinto of Australia, was a subsidiary of mining company Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ), with operations in the Gulf of Carpentaria including zinc and bauxite mines near Weipa. In 1993 the company was embroiled in an ongoing industrial dispute at its Weipa holdings after attempting to move its predominantly unionised workforce to individually negotiated contracts, rather than union-approved collective bargaining agreements. Mineworkers began a series of work stoppages and several unions responded with bans on CRA operations, with industrial action being coordinated federally by the ACTU until the company resolved the dispute in 1995. CRA ceased operating as a separate entity that same year when it merged with its parent company RTZ to form the Rio Tinto Group, then the world’s largest mining conglomerate.
CSCsearch for term
Corrective Services Commission
CSRsearch for term
Colonial Sugar Refinery
DDGsearch for term
Deputy Director General
DEEDIsearch for term
Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
DERMsearch for term
Department of Environment and Resource Management
DGsearch for term
Director General, the head of a government department.
DLOsearch for term
Department Liaison Officer
DLPsearch for term
Democratic Labor Party
DOGITsearch for term
Deed of Grant in Trust. The tenure system established in Queensland after 1985 to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to administer former reserves and missions.
DPCsearch for term
Department of the Premier and Cabinet
DPIsearch for term
Department of Primary Industries
DPPsearch for term
Department of Public Prosecutions
DURDsearch for term
Department of Urban and Regional Development. A federal department established by the Whitlam Government.
EARCsearch for term
Electoral and Administrative Review Commission. The commission was established in 1989 to address problems uncovered during the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It was dissolved in 1993.
EPAsearch for term
Environmental Protection Agency
EQsearch for term
Education Queensland
ETUsearch for term
Electrical Trades Union
Expo 88search for term
Colloquial term for the 1988 World Exposition, a world’s fair held in Brisbane between April and October 1988. Held in conjunction with the Bicentennial celebrations, it spurred a major redevelopment of the South Bank area adjacent to the Brisbane River and over its duration attracted more than 15 million visits.
FIAsearch for term
Federated Ironworkers Association of Australia
FIFOsearch for term
Fly in, fly out workers
Fitzgerald Inquirysearch for term
The common name for the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct. The Inquiry was conducted by Justice Tony Fitzgerald. It began in 1987 and concluded in 1989. The revelations brought to light during this investigation contributed to the downfall of National Party Government and led to a raft of other reforms.
Gabbasearch for term
Brisbane Cricket Ground in Woolloongabba
GBEsearch for term
Government Business Enterprise
GFCsearch for term
Global Financial Crisis
Ginger Groupsearch for term
A term used to describe a section of the Liberal Party, typically comprising younger MPs, active in parliament from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. The group looked to maintain a separate identity for the Liberal Party while in Coalition with the National Party, sometimes openly criticising the government’s actions or policies from within its own ranks.
GOCsearch for term
Government-Owned Corporation
GOMAsearch for term
Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane
GSTsearch for term
Goods and Services Tax established by federal legislation after the 1998 election.
Gulagsearch for term
Originally a Soviet Russian work camp to which political dissidents were dispatched. The term was applied to the abandoned primary school which accommodated several senior public servants with ongoing employment rights, keeping them out of the way while the Goss Government considered their future in early 1990.
Heiner Inquirysearch for term
The inquiry was established in 1989 to investigate the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre. The documents generated by the inquiry were shredded by the Goss Government in 1990 leading to allegations of a cover up.
Hit Listsearch for term
A colloquial term for the list of public servants deemed to be favourable to Labor, compiled by supporters of the incoming Borbidge Government.
HREOCsearch for term
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
IAEsearch for term
Institute of Advanced Education
ICACsearch for term
Independent Commission Against Corruption
ICACQsearch for term
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Commission of Queensland
ICTsearch for term
Information and Communications Technology
ILOsearch for term
International Labor Organisation
IMBsearch for term
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, located at the University of Queensland
Industrial Groupssearch for term
These sometimes termed groupers emerged during the Cold War. The groups formed inside the trade union and Labor Party in order to combat the perceived threat of communism.
IOUsearch for term
Internal Operations Unit
IPAAsearch for term
Institute for Public Administration Australia
Journey Claimssearch for term
Compensation claims made by workers when injured travelling either to or from their place of work. Long a part of the state’s workers’ compensation scheme, journey claims were among a number of claim types that were restricted or abolished when the Borbidge government amended workers’ compensation rights under its WorkCover Queensland Act 1996. Those amendments were repealed by the Beattie government under its Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003, but restrictive changes to workers’ compensation rights were again introduced by the Newman government in late 2013.
Kennedy Reportsearch for term
The colloquial name for the 1988 Commission of Review into Corrective Services in Queensland. The inquiry was conducted by Jim Kennedy.
Kitchen Leave/Gardening Leavesearch for term
A term used to refer to the practice of allowing public servants to remain at home on full pay, while the government considers an employee’s future.
Labor Party Interventionsearch for term
In March 1980, as an intended conclusion to years of bitter in-fighting and acrimony, the National Executive of the Australian Labor Party intervened into the affairs of the Queensland Branch. The decision helped change control of the party from the Trades Hall Group, to also include reformers comprising branch members: academics, white collar unionists and women, who, at that time, were looking to the Party for political change. In the interviews, the Trades Hall Group are also referred to as the Inner Executive, Old Guard or Breakfast Creek Group. The term QCE or Queensland Central Executive is also used but this was a larger organisation that administered the Queensland branch of the Labor Party. The Inner Executive was the smaller group which ran the Labor Party day-to-day, between QCE meetings.
LNPsearch for term
Liberal National Party. The party was formed on 26 July 2008 out of the merged Queensland Liberal Party and Queensland National Party.
MACOSsearch for term
Man, A Course of Study was a curriculum program developed for primary schools in the 1970s. Designed in the United States to ‘humanise’ the social studies curriculum, its introduction to Queensland schools prompted staunch criticism from ultra-conservative lobby groups and from Rona Joyner – of the Committee Against Regressive Education (or CARE) – in particular. These groups succeeded in persuading the Bjelke-Petersen Government to ban the program from state schools.
Mexicanssearch for term
A disparaging term used to describe certain public servants during the Goss years. It was applied to public servants who had come from the federal system and interstate as well as those who were recruited from academia. It was used to distinguish between long serving public servants who had been part of the system pre-1989 and those outsiders who came in with the Goss Government.
MLAsearch for term
Member of the Legislative Assembly
MOUsearch for term
This term refers to a Memorandum of Understanding between the incoming Borbidge Government and the police union in 1996.
MPsearch for term
Member of Parliament
MTIAsearch for term
Metal Trades Industry Association of Australia
MTIAsearch for term
Metal Trades Industry Association
MUAsearch for term
Maritime Union of Australia
MUA disputesearch for term
Otherwise known as the 1998 waterfront dispute, in which the Patrick stevedoring company sacked and locked out its entire waterside workforce - predominantly members of the Maritime Union of Australia - at ports around the nation. The company attempted to employ non-unionised labour in their place, many of whom were serving or former Defence Force personnel, in a bid to supposedly lift productivity at the nation's wharves, a move that had the explicit support of the Howard federal government. After a fortnight of protest by MUA members and sympathetic unions, the matter was adjudged in the Federal Court to be in contravention of the unionised workers' rights, and the MUA negotiated new working arrangements with Patrick Corporation in June 1998 that saw much of the workforce reinstated and the dispute resolved.
Mundingburra by-election 1996search for term
An electoral challenge to the win by Labor candidate Ken Davies in the seat of Mundingburra in Townsville following the 1995 State election, led to a new election in 1996 and a hung parliament. The seat was won by Liberal Frank Tanti, but because the Labor Party had been able to change their candidate, it is usually referred to as a by-election rather than a re-election. To resolve the hung parliament Independent Liz Cunningham supported the Coalition, ushering in the Borbidge Government.
NCCsearch for term
National Civic Council
NCPsearch for term
National Competition Policy
NGOsearch for term
Non Government Organisations
Northern Territory Interventionsearch for term
The Northern Territory National Emergency Response was a 5 year program of extensive Commonwealth intervention into 73 Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory initiated by the Howard Government in June 2007 in response to allegations of widespread abuse of Indigenous children. The program involved the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act and the deployment of Federal police and military personnel to support a range of coercive measures including welfare quarantining, alcohol and pornography bans, and compulsory leasing of Indigenous land to the government.
NRLsearch for term
National Rugby League
NTEUsearch for term
National Tertiary Education Union
OESRsearch for term
Office of Economic and Statistical Research in Queensland Treasury
OHEsearch for term
Office of Higher Education
OPSCsearch for term
Office of the Public Service Commissioner
OPVsearch for term
Optional Preferential Voting
PCJCsearch for term
Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee
PLPsearch for term
Parliamentary Labor Party
PPPsearch for term
Public-private partnership
PSMCsearch for term
The Public Sector Management Commission. The commission was established by legislation in early 1990 by the Goss Government but was disbanded by the subsequent Borbidge Government.
PSUsearch for term
Public Sector Union. Shortened version of the Public Sector, Professional, Scientific, Research, Technical, Communication, Aviation and Broadcasting Union, a federal trade union covering a variety of professional government workers. This union amalgamated with its state-based counterpart, the State Public Services Federation, in 1994 to become the Community and Public Sector Union.
Q2search for term
The Bligh Government’s strategic performance targets, launched in the document Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland in September 2008. It was built on the economic and education reform elements of the Beattie Government’s Smart State strategy, while expanding these to include more obvious social, health and environmental policy objectives.
QBIsearch for term
Queensland Brain Institute, located at the University of Queensland
QCAATSIsearch for term
Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
QCATsearch for term
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal or Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies, depending on the context.
QCORsearch for term
Queensland Corrective Services
QCOSSsearch for term
Queensland Council of Social Service
QCPCAsearch for term
Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations
QCSCsearch for term
Queensland Corrective Services Commission
QCUsearch for term
The Queensland Council of Unions, the peak union body in Queensland. The name was adopted in 1999.
QECsearch for term
Queensland Electricity Commission
QGCIOsearch for term
Queensland Government Chief Information Office
QICsearch for term
Queensland Investment Corporation
QIDCsearch for term
Queensland Industry Development Corporation
QIMRsearch for term
Queensland Institute of Medical Research
QIRCsearch for term
Queensland Industrial Relations Commission
QITsearch for term
Queensland Institute of Technology
QLPsearch for term
Queensland Labor Party
QPACsearch for term
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
QPSsearch for term
Queensland Police Service
QPSUsearch for term
Queensland Public Sector Union. In 2011 it amalgamated with the Australian Services Union (clerical division) and is known as Together.
QTCsearch for term
Queensland Treasury Corporation
QTTCsearch for term
Queensland Tourist and Travel Corporation
QTUsearch for term
Queensland Teachers Union
QUTsearch for term
Queensland University of Technology
QWAssearch for term
Queensland Workplace Agreements. Similar to the Howard government's Australian Workplace Agreements, QWAs were introduced by the Borbidge state government under its Workplace Relations Act 1997 and allowed employers to bypass collective bargaining processes in favour of individually negotiated contractual arrangements. QWAs were banned under the Beattie government's Industrial Relations Act 1999.
RIPAsearch for term
Royal Institute of Public Administration
RTAsearch for term
Residential Tenancies Authority
SBAsearch for term
Sustainable Business Australia or Small Business Australia, depending on the context.
SECsearch for term
State Electricity Commission
SEMPsearch for term
The Social Education Materials Project was a social studies curriculum program similar to MACOS, developed in Australia for secondary schools. Like MACOS, its introduction in the late 1970s met with strident opposition from lobby groups such as CARE and STOP (the Society To Outlaw Pornography), who convinced the Bjelke-Petersen Government to arbitrarily withdraw it from use in state schools.
SEQsearch for term
South East Queensland
SEQEBsearch for term
South East Queensland Electricity Board
SESsearch for term
Senior Executive Service
Smart Statesearch for term
Name given to a Beattie Government strategy designed to diversify Queensland’s economy through attracting new and innovative businesses and industries to the state and restructuring the state’s education, training and research sectors. It entailed unprecedented public funding of reformed education system (eg introduction of Prep year) and new research institutes built as innovation clusters at prominent university sites. It became a one size fits all brand for several Beattie-era initiatives, mostly centred on state development, infrastructure building and job creation.
TAFEsearch for term
Technical and Further Education
TLCsearch for term
Trades and Labor Council. Over the course of Queensland’s history the state’s peak union body has gone through a number of name changes. The Trades and Labor Council and the Queensland Council of Unions are the two most commonly used terms. Trades Hall is another common term used to describe the Trades and Labor Council.
Trades Hall Groupsearch for term
The group of union State Secretaries who served on the TLC Executive
UNESCOsearch for term
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UQsearch for term
University of Queensland
USSRsearch for term
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VETECsearch for term
Vocational Training and Education Centre
VSUsearch for term
Voluntary Student Unionism
WW2search for term
World War II
WWFsearch for term
Waterside Workers Federation
Y2Ksearch for term
In the lead up to the year 2000 it was feared that computer systems would fail. This was the name given to the fear.
Your Rights at Worksearch for term
A protest campaign led by the ACTU and its member unions against workplace relations reforms introduced by the Howard federal government under its Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, popularly known as 'Work Choices'. The campaign involved national days of protest featuring mass rallies in all capital cities, as well as a media campaign of anti-Work Choices advertising and online petitions. The campaign, highlighting the potential loss of workers' rights under the reforms, was regarded as contributing to the success of the ALP in winning government at the 2007 federal election.