The Community Broadcasting Foundation respects and values the principles of diversity, access and equity and the benefits of their application throughout its culture, organisational structure and grant programs.
Background
In order to best meet and support the needs of the community broadcasting sector, the CBF strives to ensure that all stakeholders have equal access to relevant CBF information, services and opportunities, and that its culture, organisational structure and grants programs are aligned with diversity principles.
Diversity refers to the visible and invisible differences that exist between people, such as gender, culture, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, 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 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 set an example for the community broadcasting sector and the broader community by promoting and embracing diversity and cultural competency, and by fostering anti-discrimination awareness and behavior amongst staff and volunteers in our commitment to achieving social justice and a thriving community media sector.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the CBF Consultation Policy.
Practices
The Diversity, Access & Equity Policy and Practices provide a 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 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.
Guiding principles
While not limited to the following groups, current priorities for affirmative action within organisational structures at the CBF include:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Women
- People with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- People with a disability
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people
- Young people
- People from non-metropolitan areas
The CBF promotes diversity, supports equal rights, and does not advocate, support or practice discrimination based on race, religion, age, national origin, language, gender, sexual orientation, or mental or physical handicap 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 CBF commits itself to:
- Diversity: The CBF will develop strategies, initiatives and programs to promote diversity on its Board and Committees.
- Gender diversity: The CBF is committed to achieving gender diversity on its Board and Committees and will set and publish measurable objectives and targets to achieve gender diversity. The CBF’s gender diversity target is to maintain 40% men, 40% women and 20% any or no gender including those that 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.
- 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.
- 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 different abilities 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.
Date of approval by Board: 21 February 2014, revised 22 May 2015, 16 August 2019 and 19 November 2021. 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.