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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2001-02August 2002 © Commonwealth of Australia 2002 |
View the report as a single document - (PDF 146KB)
Standing order 19 provides for the appointment of a Standing Committee on Appropriations and Staffing to inquire into:
(a) proposals for the annual estimates and the additional estimates for the Senate;
(b) proposals to vary the staff structure of the Senate, and staffing and recruitment policies; and
(c) such other matters as are referred to it by the Senate.
The committee makes an annual report to the Senate on the operations of the Senate's appropriations and staffing and related matters (standing order 19(3)).
The President, who chairs the committee, the Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate are ex officio members of the committee. There are six other members, three nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate and three nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or by any minority groups or independent senators.
The committee's membership from 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002 was:
The President of the Senate, Senator the Hon. M Reid (Chairman)
The Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator the Hon. R Hill
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator the Hon. J Faulkner
Senator the Hon. R Boswell
Senator V Bourne
Senator the Hon. W Heffernan
Senator the Hon. I Macdonald
Senator R Ray
Senator the Hon. C Schacht
The committee presented two reports to the Senate in 2001-02, as follows:
Annual report for 2000-01 (tabled 9 August 2001)
36th report - Estimates for the Department of the Senate 2001-03 (certified for presentation on 22 May 2002 and tabled 18 June 2002)
The committee determines the amounts for inclusion in the parliamentary appropriation bills for the annual and additional appropriations and reports to the Senate on its determinations prior to the Senate's consideration of the relevant bill.
As the department did not seek any additional appropriations for 2001-2002 it was unnecessary for the committee to report on this matter.
In its 36th report, the committee reported that it had determined an amount of $29.369 million for inclusion in the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill 2002-2003: $28.246 million for departmental expenses and $1.123 million for administered expenses. The figures reflected a budget neutral transfer of funding for senators' personalised stationery, transferred from the departmental budget to the administered special appropriations.
In relation to staffing, the committee makes recommendations to the President and may report to the Senate on any matter. Accordingly, the committee was informed of a number of significant matters relating to the administration of the Department of the Senate.
Members of the committee approved a recommendation that the Department of the Senate comply with an order of the Senate, directed at executive departments, to disclose certain details of contracts entered into by the department.
The order arose as a response to by the Senate to repeated claims of commercial confidentiality made by the executive for the non-disclosure of information to the Senate and its committees. The recommendation recognised that compliance would meet the interests of open government and avoid any suggestion that the Senate was expecting a lesser standard of accountability of its own administration than it required of other departments.
Members of the committee were advised in August 2001 of a recommendation to award the travel contract for parliamentary departments to Ansett and Jetset through a 'cluster' arrangement, and of the likely consequential closure of the Qantas office in Parliament House with attendant removal of a service to members.
Members were subsequently advised that the contract with Qantas was renewed, but that the Qantas office nevertheless closed.
The committee was informed of changes among senior executive personnel and in the executive structure of the Department of the Senate.
The committee was informed that the Clerk of the Senate and employees of the department had entered into a new certified agreement in November 2001. Members of the committee were subsequently provided with a report on the Senate Department's achievement of performance, productivity and cost reduction goals, on the basis of which the Clerk approved a pay increase to staff in accordance with the certified agreement.
The agreement is available on the Senate Internet site.
Members of the committee were advised that the President and the Speaker had requested the Parliamentary Service Commissioner, Mr Andrew Podger, to conduct a review of certain aspects of the administration of the Parliament, namely security management, corporate functions, and purchasing arrangements. Members were provided with copies of the terms of reference for the review. The review is being conducted in stages, with the final report to be completed by the end of August 2002.
At an estimates hearing of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee on 27 May 2002 the President indicated that the reports generated by the review would be considered by the Appropriations and Staffing Committee and then the Senate, with the views of the Presiding Officers as to which recommendations they wished to pursue.
(Paul Calvert)
Chairman
August 2002
The President of the Senate, Senator the Hon. P Calvert
(Chairman)
The Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator the Hon. R Hill
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator the Hon. J Faulkner
Senator L Allison
Senator the Hon. N Bolkus
Senator the Hon. R Boswell
Senator the Hon. W Heffernan
Senator the Hon. J Herron
Senator R Ray
Richard Pye
SG.25
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 3015
Fax: 02 6277 5784
E-mail: richard.pye@aph.gov.au
Internet: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/app_ctte/index.htm
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