Glossary of Terms

Accident An incident where a person suffers serious or fatal injuries or where property is seriously damaged.

Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO) An order issued from time to time by the government and signed by the Governor-General which establishes the matters or outcomes to be dealt with by each department of state, and the Acts of parliament to be administered by each minister.

Administered items Revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities that the government controls, but which an agency or authority manages on the government's behalf.

Agency Departments of state, departments of parliament and prescribed agencies' for the purposes of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) An agreement between an employer and an employee about the terms and conditions of employment, made under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

Business division An organisational unit within the department, which is managed by an executive director and reports to the secretary of the department. For a list of business divisions see page 7.

Certified Agreement (CA) A collective agreement relating to employment conditions made directly between an employer and a group of employees.

Chief Executive's Instructions provide instructions and guidance for accountability requirements under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

Competitive tendering and contracting (CTC) The process of contracting out the delivery of government activities previously performed by an Australian Government agency to another organisation.

Equity Also known as net assets, it is the residual interest in the assets of an entity after deduction of its liabilities.

Incident An occurrence that affected, or could have affected, the safety or security of an activity e.g. the operation of aviation and shipping. More specific definitions are set out in various Acts of parliament.

Intermodal The interaction of operations between transport modes (road, rail, air and sea).

Non-ongoing employee An Australian Public Service (APS) employee who is not an ongoing APS employee.

Ongoing employee A person engaged as an ongoing APS employee as mentioned in paragraph 22(2)(a) of the Public Service Act 1999.

Outcomes and outputs structure This structure reflects an agency's business and enables sound performance reporting to parliament. Outcomes are the results, impacts or consequences of actions by the Australian Government on the Australian community. Outputs contribute to outcomes. They are the goods or services produced by agencies on behalf of the government and are specified by price, quantity and quality.

Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS) These statements explain the provisions of the Appropriation Bills (Budget Bills), that is, where the appropriated funds are going to be spent.

Portfolio agencies The different government agencies which are accountable to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services under the AAO. For a list of portfolio agencies see page 2.

Price of outputs The government's contribution to the department's direct costs in producing required outputs and associated indirect costs, such as corporate overheads. It does not include, for example, revenue from independent sources.

Reasonable adjustment The principle of providing an employee with a disability with services and/or facilities to assist them in carrying out the inherent requirements of their employment, where this does not impose unjustifiable hardship on the employer.