Annual Report 2003–04
Output Group 4—Committee Office
Output
- Provision of secretariat support to the Senate legislative and general purpose standing committees, select committees and certain joint committees.
| Performance indicators | Performance results |
|---|---|
| Quality | |
| The degree of satisfaction of the President,
Deputy President, committee members and senators, as expressed
through formal and informal feedback mechanisms, with the quality
and timeliness of advice and support and the achievement of key tasks. Advice, documentation, publications and draft reports are accurate and of a high standard. |
Formal and informal feedback mechanisms
continued to show that the President, Deputy President and
senators considered the support provided by the Committee Office
to be effective. Chairs and other senators, when debating committee reports, consistently recognised the high quality of service provided by their secretariats, including in:
|
| Timeliness | |
| Meetings held, documentation provided
and reports produced within timeframes set by the Senate or the
committee, as relevant. Tabling deadlines met in all but extraordinary circumstances. |
Committee secretariats organised meetings,
hearings, briefings and inspections in accordance with committee
requirements, within the constraints of reporting deadlines set
by the Senate and the availability of members. Briefing and research
papers were prepared in accordance with the requirements of and
timeframes set by committees. Committee secretariats, utilising the evidence from submissions, hearings and research, drafted reports in accordance with the requirements, initially, of committee chairs and, finally, of committees. Minority and dissenting reports were drafted, as needed, in accordance with the requirements of the senators concerned. |
| Quantity | |
| Documentation is sufficient for committee purposes and material available to the public is available promptly, electronically or in hard copy. | Committee staff provided documents,
in accordance with secretariat procedures, orders of the Senate,
and committee requirements, to committee members, witnesses and
others. Reports were available upon tabling, to senators and members of the public, in both printed and electronic forms. |
Analysis
To provide effective procedural and administrative support for Senate and some joint committees, the Committee Office is divided (as shown in Figure 19) into an executive unit and secretariat units supporting, in most cases, two committees each. The executive unit provides procedural advice to senators and committee staff in respect of committee matters, coordinates the provision of staff and administrative resources for all secretariats, and maintains a range of committee statistics. The Clerk Assistant (Committees) and the Senior Clerk of Committees perform duty as clerks at the table in the Senate chamber, as does one committee secretary.
Each pair of legislative and general purpose standing committees is supported by a secretariat; each select committee has a secretariat (sometimes with some staff in common with another secretariat); and of the three joint committees supported by the office, two are supported by a combined secretariat and one by a separate secretariat.
The average staffing level for the Committee Office for the year was 62 staff years, up from last year’s average of 58 as a result of a marked increase in workload. For example, 40 per cent more legislation committee reports and twice as many references committee reports were presented as in 2002–03.
The total cost of providing support services to committees during the year was $9.2 million, comprising salaries and administrative costs of committees. This is an increase from $7.81 million in 2002–03. The increase is attributable to the number of additional select committees established during the year. The cost per committee ranged from approximately $290,000 to nearly $620,000, reflecting differences in committees’ workloads and activity, and hence in staffing and resource requirements.
| Executive | ||
|---|---|---|
| John
Vander Wyk, Clerk Assistant Neil Bessell, Senior Clerk |
||
| Procedural advice Planning and coordination Secretariat staffing and resources Statistics and records |
||
| Legislative and general purpose standing (legislation and references) committee secretariats | Select committee secretariats | Joint statutory committee secretariats |
| Community Affairs Elton Humphery |
Free Trade Agreement—Australia and
the United States of America Brenton Holmes |
Australian Crime Commission Jonathan Curtis |
| Economics Sarah Bachelard |
Lindeberg Grievance Alistair Sands |
Corporations and Financial Services Kathleen Dermody |
| Employment, Workplace Relations and Education John Carter |
Medicare Elton Humphery/ Jonathan Curtis |
Native Title and the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund Jonathan Curtis |
| Environment, Communications, Information
Technology and the Arts Michael McLean |
Ministerial Discretion in Migration Matters Alistair Sands |
|
| Finance and Public Administration Alistair Sands |
Superannuation Stephen Frappell |
|
| Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Brenton Holmes/ Saxon Patience |
Administration of Indigenous
Affairs Jonathan Curtis |
|
| Legal and Constitutional Phillip Bailey/Louise Gell |
||
| Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Maureen Weeks |
||
Procedural changes and advice
Last year’s annual report noted changes made to standing orders to facilitate the work of committees. These included changes to the provisions on quorums, the appointment of acting committee chairs, and meetings of committees held during the adjournment debate. Most of the changes were well received and have assisted the work of committees and their meeting arrangements. Some committees have suggested further changes to the rules on acting chairs.
Secretaries continued to provide procedural and other advice to committee chairs and members. On a number of occasions this advice was supplemented by advice from the Clerk, Deputy Clerk, Clerk Assistant (Committees) or Senior Clerk of Committees. Advice, mainly oral, covered a wide variety of issues, including parliamentary privilege, commercial-in-confidence matters, the power of committees to call for specific departmental officers, questions put to witnesses, rules under which questions to witnesses may be out of order, and adverse reflections on persons in evidence.
Legislative and general purpose standing committees
The 16 legislative and general purpose standing committees are divided into two groups—eight legislation committees and eight references committees. The committees are established pursuant to standing order 25 as permanent committees, which exist for the life of a parliament and are re-established at the commencement of each new parliament. Legislation committees inquire into and report on bills, estimates of proposed expenditure, annual reports and the performance of government departments and agencies.
During 2003–04, legislation committees had 75 matters, including 53 bills or packages of bills, referred to them, and they tabled 77 reports. Details are shown in Figure 20 and Table 4. The committees sat for a total of 292 hours, and conducted hearings mainly in Canberra but also in interstate centres. These statistics do not include data relating to legislation committees considering estimates, which are detailed separately in Table 5 below. At the end of the financial year, 16 legislation committee references remained current.
Figure 20 Legislation committees—activity
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meetings | ||||
| – public | 68 | 39 | 57 | 79 |
| – private | 169 | 132 | 140 | 173 |
| – inspections/other | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Hours of meetings | ||||
| – public | 245:37 | 140:44 | 395:33 | 248:33 |
| – private | 35:20 | 68:15 | 45:06 | 43:46 |
| Matters referred | ||||
| – bills and/or provisions of bills (including packages of bills) | 56 | 46 | 51 | 53 |
| – other (including annual reports)a | 16 | 23 | 17 | 22 |
| Reports presented (including from inquiries current at 1 July 2003) | 53 | 44 | 54 | 77b |
| Submissions received | 905 | 1,009 | 3,019 | 1,545 |
| Witnesses | 788 | 438 | 583 | 773 |
a Annual reports are counted as two references a year per committee, because legislation committees are required to report on them twice a year.
b Includes one interim report.
Note: All statistics related to consideration of estimates of expenditure are excluded.
Legislation committees considering estimates of proposed expenditure of government departments and agencies sat for a total of 725 hours for the 2003–04 budget cycle. This cycle commenced in May and June 2003 with budget estimates, continued in November 2003 with supplementary hearings, and concluded in February 2004 with additional estimates.
Figure 21 and Table 5 show that the committees sat for 330 hours in May and June 2004 to consider the 2004–05 budget estimates. At these hearings, senators asked an estimated 33,000 questions and placed on notice an additional 2,260 questions. These totals are broadly comparable to those for the 2002–03 budget cycle.
Figure 21 Legislation committees considering estimates―activity
| Budget cycle | Budget estimates (hours) |
Additional estimates (hours) February |
Total hours |
No. of witnesses |
No. of pages of evidence |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May/Junea |
October/ Novemberb |
|||||
| 2004–05 | 329:38 |
1,872 |
3,784 |
|||
| 2003–04 | 358:15 |
179:14 |
187:04 |
724:33 |
2,973 |
6,310 |
| 2002–03 | 358:13 |
111:44 |
188:16 |
658.13 |
3,385 |
7,156 |
| 2001–02 | 300:48 |
–c |
201:00 |
501:48 |
2,452 |
5,127 |
| 2000–01 | 274:28 |
121:41 |
169:11 |
565:20 |
3,179 |
6,324 |
a Main hearings
b Supplementary hearings
c Hearings were not held, as a result of the calling of elections.
Note: Annual and additional estimates of expenditure are referred to the eight legislation committees.
References committees inquire into and report on various general matters referred to them by the Senate. These are usually matters addressing broad policy issues.
References committees had 13 matters referred to them, sat for 601 hours and conducted hearings in Canberra, all state and territory capitals and several regional and country centres. These committees tabled 21 reports. Details are shown in Figure 22 and Table 6. At the end of the financial year, 23 references remained current.
Figure 22 References committees—activity
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meetings | ||||
| – public | 88 | 64 | 136 | 115 |
| – private | 140 | 111 | 112 | 133 |
| – inspections/other | 13 | 33 | 44 | 21 |
| Hours of meetings | ||||
| – public | 408:45 | 259:37 | 518:53 | 528:20 |
| – private | 51:49 | 56:31 | 41:42 | 72:49 |
| Matters referred | ||||
| – general | 9 | 18 | 23 | 11 |
| – bills and/or provisions of bills (including packages of bills) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Reports presented (including from inquiries current at 1 July 2003) | 13 | 18 | 10 | 21a |
| Submissions received | 3,555 | 1,591 | 1,953 | 3,954 |
| Witnesses | 1,128 | 1,049 | 1,719 | 1,294 |
a Includes two interim reports.
The greater levels of activity and trends depicted in Figure 22 are typical of this point in an electoral cycle, but also indicate a long-term trend towards increasing numbers of committee inquiries.
Select committees
Select committees are ad hoc committees each created to inquire into and report on a specific matter. Usually a select committee has a limited life, and ceases to exist on the presentation of its final report. Six select committees existed, and were supported by the Committee Office, during the year: the Select Committee on Superannuation, the Select Committee on Medicare, the Select Committee on Ministerial Discretion in Migration Matters, the Select Committee on the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States of America, the Select Committee on the Lindeberg Grievance, and the Select Committee on the Administration of Indigenous Affairs. The last three select committees remained in existence at 30 June 2004.
The Select Committee on Superannuation completed its final report in September 2003 after being in existence for more than 10 years and tabling more than 60 reports. In debating the final report of the select committee, current members of the committee acknowledged the significant contribution made by staff to the work of the committee. Similar acknowledgements were made when the report on Ministerial Discretion in Migration Matters was presented, on 31 March 2004, and when the two reports of the Select Committee on Medicare were presented, on 30 October 2003 and 11 February 2004.
Details of select committee activities are shown in Figure 23 and Table 7.
Figure 23 Select committees—activity
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committees | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Meetings | ||||
| – public | 31 | 19 | 20 | 39 |
| – private | 48 | 42 | 36 | 50 |
| – inspections/other | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Hours of meeting | ||||
| – public | 123:34 | 193:41 | 105:41 | 224:34 |
| – private | 19:45 | 28:36 | 21:55 | 16:52 |
| Matters referred | ||||
| – general | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| – bills and/or provisions of bills | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Reports presented (including from inquiries current at 1 July 2003) | 7 | 1 | 6 | 6a |
| Submissions received | 3,196 | 215 | 266 | 946 |
| Witnesses | 387 | 134 | 235 | 498 |
a Including one interim report.
Joint committees
During 2003–04, the Committee Office supported three statutory joint committees (that is, committees on which both senators and members serve). They were the parliamentary joint committees on Corporations and Financial Services, the Australian Crime Commission, and Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund.
The Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services tabled several reports on key issues, including the disclosure of commission on risk products; the level of banking and financial services in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia; the fee structure for automatic teller machines; corporations amendment regulations and the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program; and Australia’s corporate insolvency laws.
The Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission tabled reports on the then National Crime Authority; cybercrime; and the commission’s response to the trafficking of women for sexual servitude.
The Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund reported on the effectiveness of the National Native Title Tribunal and continued working on its inquiry into native title representative bodies.
Details of the activities of the joint committees supported by the Committee Office are shown in Figure 24 and Table 8.
Figure 24 Joint committees—activity
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committees | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Meetings | ||||
| – public | 37 | 10 | 34 | 34 |
| – private | 41 | 23 | 58 | 59 |
| – inspections/other | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Hours of meeting | ||||
| – public | 131:33 | 29:03 | 112:57 | 134:23 |
| – private | 25:19 | 11:18 | 29:33 | 25:44 |
| Matters referred | ||||
| – general | 0 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| – bills and/or provisions of bills | 4 | 0 | 1a | 0 |
| Reports presented (including from inquiries current at 1 July 2003) | 8 | 4 | 5 | 13b |
| Submissions received | 258 | 69 | 335 | 186 |
| Witnesses | 342 | 68 | 279 | 298 |
a Referred by the House of Representatives.
b Including three interim reports.
Meeting venues
Secretariats support committees both when the committees meet in private and when they hold public hearings to take evidence from witnesses. Senate staff supported 773 meetings and hearings, an increase of 9 per cent on the 711 meetings and hearings held in 2002–03.
Although most committee meetings and hearings were held at Parliament House, committees endeavoured to meet in the states or territories when they could. Details of interstate meetings in 2003–04 are shown in Figure 25. The distribution of meetings in 2003–04 was similar to the distribution of meetings in previous years.
Figure 25 Committee meetings, by location, 2003–04
Evaluation
The Committee Office aims to provide adequate and effective support to each committee through a core secretariat, while being able to move staff, when required, to committees with heavy workloads. Permanent staff resources are supplemented by a number of non-ongoing staff. During 2003–04, seven participants in the Working in the Senate (WISE) Program (two in 2003 and five in 2004) also contributed to the work of secretariats.
Secretariat staff supported standing, select and joint committees by:
- providing administrative support
- organising the advertising of inquiries
- identifying and contacting persons and organisations that could assist an inquiry by making submissions or appearing as witnesses
- arranging meetings, public hearings and inspections
- providing briefing papers
- conducting research and analysing evidence
- preparing draft reports
- finalising reports and preparing tabling statements
- arranging the presentation of reports to the Senate.
This work was done to high standards, in accordance with timetables determined by the Senate or by committees, and to the satisfaction of the committees—as evidenced by favourable comments made in the chamber when reports were tabled or debated.
Individual staff members’ performances were evaluated through the performance communication scheme established under the department’s certified agreement. All Committee Office staff were assessed as ‘effective or better’, and thus qualified for the component of the 2004 salary increase which was contingent on such an assessment.
Committee secretaries met regularly with their teams to discuss performance and work-related issues. Committee secretaries met as a group, with the Clerk Assistant and Senior Clerk, every two or three weeks, to discuss procedural issues and administrative matters connected with the effective functioning of secretariats. The Clerk Assistant and Senior Clerk also held regular meetings with research officers and executive assistants.
Significant changes in functions and services
There were no significant changes to the functions of, or nature of the services provided by, the output group during the year.
Factors, events and trends influencing performance
The number and subject matter of inquiries posed specific challenges for the Committee Office, particularly in relation to staffing. In recent years, the Committee Office has operated with staff levels at 58 full-time equivalent staff. In 2003–04, this figure was 62 full-time equivalent staff, plus the staff from executive departments and agencies participating in the WISE program.
The total number of committee reports for which secretariat staff prepared drafts during the year was 134 (including estimates reports)―a one-third increase from the total of 100 for 2002–03. Committee staff arranged and supported 773 meetings and hearings (711 in 2002–03). They dealt with a total of 6,931 witnesses, including estimates witnesses (6,789 in 2002–03), 6,631 submissions (5,573 in 2002–03) and 25,573 pages of Hansard evidence (22,034 in 2002–03).
The increase in workload resulted in staff resources being stretched for most of the year, with staff not infrequently working at night and at weekends to complete draft reports within required timeframes. On occasions, extensions had to be sought for some inquiries to enable others with a higher priority or shorter timeframe to be completed. Secretariat workloads will be closely monitored in the next parliament. If the trend towards greater workloads is maintained, the level of staffing required to adequately support each committee may need to be reviewed.
A large number of references were made to two committees in particular. The secretariat for the Legal and Constitutional legislation and references committees prepared 25 reports during the year―20 for the legislation committee and five for the references committee. At 30 June 2004, the secretariat was working on draft reports on another five bills references and two general references. The secretariat for the Economics legislation and references committees also prepared 25 reports―23 for the legislation committee and two for the references committee. At 30 June 2004, the secretariat was working on draft reports on another two bills references. More than half of the bills or packages of bills referred to legislation committees during the year went to these two committees.
A number of matters referred during the year involved consideration of complex policy and technical matters, or sensitive and personally challenging issues—for example, the inquiries into military justice and children in institutional care. The secretariat supporting the Community Affairs References Committee was involved more than most in such inquiries: the committee dealt with references on the extent of poverty in Australia, children in institutional care (having previously completed an inquiry into child migration), and the supply of blood products and hepatitis C. The personal and sensitive nature of the issues meant that counselling services were provided for witnesses at some hearings.
The benefits of first-hand meetings, consultations and inspections were apparent in the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee on Australia’s relations with Papua New Guinea and the island states of the south‑west Pacific. The committee obtained approval for members to visit Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea as an additional parliamentary delegation—making it only the third Senate committee to travel internationally as part of an inquiry. The secretariat was instrumental in coordinating the travel, and a member of the secretariat accompanied the committee on its visit.
During the year the Committee Office supported, at various times, six select committees. Five of these committees were supported by the secretariats of the relevant legislative and general purpose standing committees, with additional staff as required. The establishment of select committees allowed a number of Committee Office staff to gain experience as acting secretaries or acting principal research officers.
During the reporting period, the Committee Office undertook a comprehensive recruitment process at the Parliamentary Executive Level (PEL) 2, PEL 1 and Senior Research Officer levels, and made a number of ongoing appointments at each level. Most of the appointments filled positions that had been vacated by long-serving officers who retired.
As foreshadowed in last year’s report, the Committee Office, with technical assistance from the Department of Parliamentary Services, introduced a refined template for drafting committee reports. This template ensures a consistent approach to formatting, style and presentation.
Not surprisingly, information technology continued to facilitate the work of, and deliver beneficial outcomes to, committees and their secretariats. As a result of developments during 2003–04, all committee reports are published on the Senate website almost immediately after being tabled in the Senate. Most submissions to inquiries are also available on the internet, as are all transcripts of public hearings.
The number of submissions lodged electronically with committees increased during the year, as did email correspondence to committees. Committees were mindful of privacy, particularly in relation to personal details and experiences, and agreed in some cases that submissions, although public, should not be placed on the internet.
The office contributed to, and began assessing, options for developing a comprehensive database system for managing inquiry correspondence, submissions and other secretariat documents and information. Cost constraints may inhibit the introduction of a fully integrated information management system.
Performance outlook
The extensive recruitment program undertaken in 2003–04 has significantly supplemented the talented and high-performing staff within the Committee Office.
The research, analysis, administration and management skills of secretariats are of a high order, and will be developed and extended through training and development programs. For example, Committee Office staff will continue to participate in PEP UP, the department’s major in-house training program, and in STEP UP, an extension program on procedural and management issues for senior officers.
The Committee Office will continue to review information technology options in order to improve services to committees.
