Community broadcasters are united by guiding principles as set out in their Codes of Practice. They include promoting harmony and diversity and contributing to an inclusive, cohesive and culturally diverse Australian community; pursuing the principles of democracy, access and equity, especially for people and issues not adequately represented in other media; and increasing community involvement in broadcasting.
The Community Broadcasting Foundation affirms and aims to reflect within its culture, organisational structure and grant programs community broadcasting’s leading role in amplifying diverse cultures and languages to contribute to greater self-determination and social cohesion.
Background
Diversity refers to the visible and invisible differences that exist between people, such as gender, culture, ethnicity, disability, sexuality , age, economic status, language, faith, nationality, education, geographical location, and family/marital status. It also refers to diverse ways of thinking and ways of working.
The CBF strives to reflect and support the community media sector’s commitment to diversity and inclusion through:
- A deep understanding of communities and supporting content that celebrates diverse tastes, perspectives and interests including young people, First Nations, multicultural, disability, LGBTQIA+, faith-based and regional and remote communities.
- Reflecting First Nations cultures and advancing First Nations self-determination
- Reflecting the diverse cultures, beliefs and languages of Australia, nurturing a strong sense of belonging among all communities
- Ensuring community broadcasters with disability are visible and their voices are amplified, creating content by and for the diverse voices of Australia
The CBF is committed not only to complying with applicable law such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 in all of its operations but aspires to be a leader in the community media sector and the broader community by promoting and embracing diversity and cultural sensitivity, and by fostering anti-discrimination awareness and behaviour amongst staff and volunteers .
The CBF also strives to ensure that all stakeholders have equal access to relevant CBF information, services and opportunities, and that its culture and management systems are inclusive.
Practices
The practices and procedures outlined below provide an organisational framework to:
- Ensure the membership of the CBF’s Board and Committees are appropriately diverse and to establish how these objectives can be met and measured.
- Bring together the different accountabilities involved in different areas of accessibility, and to clarify the nature of these responsibilities in each area.
- Integrate a philosophy of inclusion and equity into all the organisation’s activities and to establish and promote accessible practices in our operations.
- Consider the principles of diversity when designing grants programs, including the prioritisation of inclusion, access and equity in relation to community media content, development and operations.
The Community Broadcasting Foundation respects and values the advantages of diversity and the benefits that flow from the integration of diversity principles throughout its culture and management structures.
The CBF seeks to add to, nurture and develop itself through the collective skills and diverse experience and attributes of the members of its Board and Committees through a blend of skills, experiences, perspectives, styles, and attributes including their culture, gender, age and geographic location.
While not limited to the following groups, current priorities for affirmative action at the CBF include:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Women
- People with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- People with a disability
- LGBTQIA+ people
- Young people
- People from non-metropolitan areas
The Community Broadcasting Foundation promotes diversity, supports equal rights, and does not advocate, support, or practice discrimination based on race, religion, age, national origin, language, gender, sexuality, or disability, except where affirmative action may be required to redress disadvantage. The CBF will make all reasonable efforts to allow people who experience difficulty accessing our information and services to overcome any impediments.
The Foundation commits itself to:
- Diversity and inclusion: The CBF will develop strategies, initiatives, and programs to promote diversity and inclusion on its Board and Committees and for the sector at large in consultation with sector stakeholders.
- Gender diversity: The CBF is committed to achieving gender balance on its Board and Committees and will set and publish measurable objectives and targets to achieve gender balance. The CBF’s gender balance target is to maintain 40 per cent men, 40 per cent women and 20 per cent any or no gender, including those who identify as gender diverse, for CBF Boards and Committees.
- Diverse appointments: The CBF will set and publish procedures to achieve diversity of appointments on its Board, Committees and Assessor Team.
- Cultural competence training: All CBF Directors, Committee members and staff will be provided with and are required to complete cultural awareness training unless exempted due to cultural background, prior experience or learning. All CBF volunteers are also offered this training opportunity.
- Reconciliation: The CBF supports the Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation. The CBF further supports the National Strategies to Advance Reconciliation, as proposed by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and the work of Reconciliation Australia. The CBF commits to developing a Reconciliation Action Plan.
- Access and Equity: ensuring our information and services are available to everyone who is entitled to them, free from discrimination. Services will be developed and delivered on the basis of fair treatment of all stakeholders.
- Communication: using all necessary and cost-effective strategies to inform eligible applicants of available opportunities, and to provide information in forms that are accessible to people with different abilities or from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
- Consultation and Responsiveness: remaining sensitive to the needs and requirements of stakeholders with disabilities or from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds; consulting with stakeholders about the adequacy, design, and standard of services; and being responsive as far as practicable to the particular circumstances of individuals.
- JEDI strategy: Together with sector stakeholders we commit to the development of a justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) strategy for the sector which ensures an accessible and culturally safe volunteering, training and career pathway for everyone. This strategy will inform the CBF’s Supporting Inclusivity Framework and the development of targets for our grant programs to guide our decisions and hold us accountable.
- Governance: regularly reviewing our governance practices, ensuring we are embedding and strengthening inclusivity, accessibility and best practice.
Date of approval by Board: 21 February 2014, revised 22 May 2015, 16 August 2019, 19 November 2021 and 24 November 2023. Download the CBF Diversity, Access and Equity Policy (PDF, 184KB) including the procedures we follow. Please contact us if you require a Microsoft Word version of this document.