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Glossary

The purpose of this glossary is to define terms commonly used in our research as well as in housing, homelessness, urban and cities policy. It is a useful reference to help you familiarise you with housing-specific terms used across our publications and on our website.

This glossary is limited to terms and acronyms most used by Australian academics and governments.

If there is a term you would like to see included in the AHURI Glossary, please contact us at information@ahuri.edu.au.

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K

Key worker

There is no formal definition of who is a key worker, however common policy focus has been on teachers, healthcare workers, police and fire and emergency personnel. More recently the key worker concept has expanded to include workers who support the broader labour force, e.g. child care and aged care workers and ICT support professionals and technicians, as well as low paid workers contributing to local economies, such those working in hospitality, retail or transport. The terms ‘essential worker’ and ‘frontline service provider’ often have the same meaning.