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The Commission has a highly committed and experienced workforce. To ensure that staff have support to achieve a work life balance, we provide access to a wide range of flexible work options. These best practice strategies assist staff of all ages, with various disabilities and external responsibilities to work productively and safely.

We have developed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and standards that form the basis for ongoing assessment of the complaint service. These indicators, and our performance in 2011-12 in relation to these indicators, are summarised below. In comparison with the last reporting year, the Service has seen a level of improvement across all KPIs.

*Full year budget, including any subsequent adjustment made to the 2011-12 Budget. 1. Appropriation Bill (No.1) 2011-12 and Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2011-12. This may also include Prior Year departmental appropriation and S.31 relevant agency receipts. 2. Includes an amount of $0.346m in 2011-12 for the Departmental Capital Budget. For accounting purposes this amount has been designated as ‘contributions by owners’. 3. Section 32 transfer. 4. Appropriation Bill (No.2) 2010-11 (rephrased).

1. Section 32 transfer. 2. Departmental Appropriation combines “Ordinary annual services (Appropriation Bill No. 1)” and “Revenue from independent sources (s31)”.

In 2011–12 the Commission received 17 047 enquiries and 2 610 complaints. This is the highest number of complaints received over the past 10 years and 21% higher than the number of complaints received in the previous reporting year.

Appendices Appendix 4: Website statistics Table 41: Website statistics Section Views of section home page Views of all pages in section Commission homepage 616 981 n/a www.humanrights.gov.au Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice 97 733 1 282 416 https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-island… Age Discrimination 51 710 146 738 www.humanrights ...

Appendices Appendix 5 – Staffing statistics Table 42: AHRC staffing profile (as at 30 June 2012) Classification Male Female Full time Part time Total Ongoing Total Non-ongoing Total Statutory Office Holders 2 4 6 6 6 SES Band 2 1 1 1 1 SES Band 1 1 1 2 2 2 Executive Level 2 ($107,491-$123,899) 8 12 16 4 19 1 20 Executive Level 1 ($89,404-98,042) 3 29 26 6 24 8 32 APS 6 ($71,475-80,109) 9 31 33 7 ...

Appendices Appendix 6 – Submissions 2011-2012 2012 Supplementary information to the Inquiry into Cyber Safety for Senior Australians (10 May 2012) Information concerning Australia and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (04 May 2012) Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012 (12 April 2012) Consideration of Australia’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the ...

Glossary 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. ADA Age Discrimination Act 2004 AHRCA Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 ANAO Australian National Audit ...

This report makes disturbing reading. It documents numerous breaches by Australia of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a nation that is understandably anxious that the rights of our own children should be respected when they come into contact with the authorities of other countries, it is troubling that between late 2008 and late 2011 Australian authorities apparently gave little weight to the rights of this cohort of young Indonesians.

An age of uncertainty Inquiry into the treatment of individuals suspected of people smuggling offences who say that they are children Glossary of Terms Abbreviation Term AFP Australian Federal Police AGD Attorney-General’s Department ALARA As Low As Reasonably Achievable ARPANSA Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency CDPP Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions CRC ...

Between late 2008 and late 2011, 180 young Indonesians who said that they were children arrived in Australia having worked as crew on boats bringing asylum seekers to Australia.

Between 1 September 2008 and 22 November 2011, 180 young Indonesians who said that they were children arrived in Australia, having worked as crew on boats bringing asylum seekers to Australia. These young people were often fishermen from impoverished communities in the south and east of Indonesia. Many of them have spent long periods of time in immigration detention without being charged, or prior to being charged, with an offence.

Since 2001, the primary method of assessing whether an individual is under the age of 18 years in the context of criminal proceedings in Australia has been through the analysis of an x-ray of the young person’s wrist. As this Inquiry is considering the treatment of young Indonesian males suspected of people smuggling who say that they are children, it is important to consider the appropriateness of this and other age assessment processes in this context.

This chapter considers the Commonwealth’s approach to the use of biomedical markers to assess age since wrist x-rays became a prescribed procedure for the purpose of age determination following the enactment of the Crimes Amendment (Age Determination) Bill 2001 (Cth). It also considers what each relevant Commonwealth agency knew, or should have known, about the value of specific age assessment processes for the purpose of establishing whether an individual is under the age of 18 years.

This chapter considers some of the Commonwealth’s practices regarding the use of wrist x-ray analysis as a means of assessing chronological age for the purposes of criminal prosecution. It highlights situations where the reliance on wrist x-rays as evidence of age was contrary to stated Australian Government policy; or where it contributed to individuals who were in fact children, or who are likely to have been children, spending long periods of time in detention, including in adult correctional facilities.

Focused age assessment interviews can be a useful technique for assessing age. Interviews of this kind have been used in Australia in a range of different ways since late 2010.

When it can be obtained, verified documentary evidence from a person’s country of origin can be reliable evidence of that person’s age. Consequently, the making of enquiries in Indonesia about whether such documentary evidence exists is an important means of age assessment. When they are made, such enquiries are ordinarily part of the investigation process conducted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

As discussed in Chapter 1, Australia’s international human rights obligations require that individuals who say that they are children be given the benefit of the doubt and treated as minors unless there is proof to the contrary. In the case of unaccompanied children, this should lead to consideration by the State of what steps need to be taken to ensure their special protection and care.

The major finding of this Inquiry is that Australia’s treatment of individuals suspected of people smuggling offences who said that they were children has led to numerous breaches of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).