Terms of reference
On 12 November 2013, a resolution of the Senate allocated
the following portfolios to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Legislation Committee (the committee):
-
Attorney-General's portfolio; and
-
Immigration and Border Protection portfolio.
This report was prepared pursuant to Standing Order 25(20)
relating to the consideration of annual reports by committees. The Standing
Order states:
Annual reports of departments and agencies shall stand
referred to the committees in accordance with an allocation of departments and
agencies in a resolution of the Senate. Each committee shall:
- Examine
each annual report referred to it and report to the Senate whether the report
is apparently satisfactory.
- Consider
in more detail, and report to the Senate on, each annual report which is not
apparently satisfactory, and on the other annual reports which it selects for
more detailed consideration.
- Investigate
and report to the Senate on any lateness in the presentation of annual reports.
- In
considering an annual report, take into account any relevant remarks about the
report made in debate in the Senate.
- If
the committee so determines, consider annual reports of departments and
budget-related agencies in conjunction with examination of estimates.
- Report
on annual reports tabled by 31 October each year by the tenth sitting day of
the following year, and on annual reports tabled by 30 April each year by
the tenth sitting day after 30 June of that year.
- Draw
to the attention of the Senate any significant matters relating to the
operations and performance of the bodies furnishing the annual reports.
- Report
to the Senate each year whether there are any bodies which do not present
annual reports to the Senate and which should present such reports.
This report examines annual reports tabled in the Senate or
presented to the President between 1 November 2016 and 30 April 2017.
Role of annual reports
Annual reports place a great deal of information about
government departments and agencies on the public record. Accordingly, the
tabling of annual reports is an important element of accountability to
Parliament. The information provided in annual reports assists in the effective
examination of the performance of departments and agencies, and the
administration of government programs.
Annual reporting requirements
Departments and agencies report under the Public Governance,
Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act), which commenced on
1 July 2014. The PGPA Act establishes a performance reporting
framework for all Commonwealth entities and companies. Section 46 of the PGPA
Act sets out the annual reporting requirements in relation to Commonwealth entities,
including that annual reports must comply with any requirements prescribed by
rules; section 97 sets out the annual reporting requirements for Commonwealth
companies. The Public Governance, Performance and
Accountability Rule 2014 (PGPA Rule) supports the PGPA Act. The
2015–16 reporting period marks the first time that all Commonwealth entities
are reporting under the prescriptions of this Rule.
Annual reports for the 2015–16 reporting period were prepared
under the following requirements:
-
for non-corporate Commonwealth entities (departments, executive
agencies and statutory agencies): the PGPA Act, section 46, and the PGPA Rule,
Division 3A(A); the Public Service Act 1999, sections 63(2) and 70(2);
and other relevant enabling legislation for statutory bodies;
-
for corporate Commonwealth entities: the PGPA Act, section 46,
and the PGPA Rule, Division 3A(AB); and other relevant enabling legislation
for statutory bodies;
-
for Commonwealth companies: PGPA Act, section 97, which also
refers to requirements under the Corporations Act 2001 and the PGPA
Rule, Part 3-3; and other relevant enabling legislation for statutory bodies;
and
-
for non-statutory bodies: the guidelines are contained in the
government response to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration
Report on Non-Statutory bodies.[1]
Reporting guidelines
The Department of Finance has produced three Resource Management Guides (RMGs) which set out the
obligations for entities under the Act and provide guidance on fulfilling the
mandatory requirements for the contents of annual reports prescribed by the
PGPA Rule:
-
Resource Management Guide No. 135: Annual reports for
non-corporate Commonwealth entities;
-
Resource Management Guide No. 136: Annual reports for
corporate Commonwealth entities; and
-
Resource Management Guide No. 137: Annual reports for
Commonwealth companies.
In addition to the RMGs
listed above, the Department of Finance has produced a guide intended to
improve the quality of non-financial performance information in annual reports,
Resource Management Guide No. 131: Developing good performance information.
This guide sets out best practice for developing and reporting on performance
measures, including key performance indictors and deliverables. The committee
recommends that agencies use this RMG when preparing their reports.
Reports examined
This report examines the following annual reports; tabled in
the Senate or presented out of session to the President of the Senate and
referred to the committee between 1 November 2016 and 30 April 2017:
Attorney-General's portfolio
Statutory
agencies/authorities
-
Australian Human Rights Commission—report for 2015–16;
-
Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity—report for
2015–16;
-
Australian Crime Commission—report for 2015–16;
-
Australian Institute of Criminology—report for 2015–16;
-
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation—report for 2015–16;
-
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre—report for
2015–16;
-
CrimTrac Agency—report for 2015–16;
-
Federal Circuit Court of Australia—report for 2015–16;
-
Federal Court of Australia—report for 2015–16, including the
report of the National Native Title Tribunal;
-
National Archives of Australia—report for 2015–16, including the
report of the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council; and
-
Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman—report for 2015–16.
Other
agencies
-
High Court of Australia—report for 2015–16.[2]
The committee received no
annual reports from the Immigration and Border Protection portfolio for this
reporting period.
'Apparently satisfactory'
Under Standing Order 25(20)(a), the committee is required to
report to the Senate whether reports are 'apparently satisfactory'. In making
this assessment, the committee considers such aspects as compliance with
relevant reporting guidelines.
The committee has found all reports referred in this period
to be 'apparently satisfactory' in reporting the annual performance of the
relevant agency.
The committee considers the Federal Court of Australia's
annual report for 2015–16 to be satisfactory; although it notes that a number
of requirements for 2015–16 were not met, requiring further inquiries on the
part of the committee so that they could be resolved.
The committee also notes the report of the Australian
Institute of Criminology overlooked a small number of mandatory requirements
set out by the PGPA Rule, however the report was otherwise satisfactory.
The reports of these agencies are considered in detail at
chapter 1.
Timeliness
Under Standing Order 25(20)(c), the committee must also report
to the Senate on any lateness in the presentation of annual reports.
Section 46 of the PGPA Act sets out the requirements for the
presentation of annual report for Commonwealth entities to the responsible
minister by the 15th day of the fourth month after the end of the reporting
period for the entity. For entities reporting on a financial-year basis, this
requires reports to be provided to the minister by 15 October of that year. RMG
No. 135, which relates to departments, executive agencies and other
non-corporate Commonwealth entities, states that:
It has been practice for the responsible Minister to present
the report to each house of the Parliament on or before 31 October. If Senate
Supplementary Budget Estimates hearings are scheduled to occur before 31 October,
Ministers have sought to table annual reports prior to these hearings.[3]
Where a body is unable to meet this deadline, an extension
of time to report can be sought under the provisions of subsections 34C(4)–(7)
of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.[4]
Section 97 of the PGPA Act sets out the requirements for the
provision of annual reports of Commonwealth companies to the responsible
minister.
A table listing the annual reports of departments and
agencies tabled in the Senate (or presented out of session to the President of
the Senate) between 1 November 2016 and 30 April 2017, and which have been
referred to the committee for examination, can be found at Appendix 1.[5]
Also included in this table is the date each report was tabled in the House of
Representatives.
The annual reports included and examined in this report were
not tabled in the Senate, nor referred to the committee, by 31 October 2016.[6]
This date for reporting applied to all reports examined, excluding the annual
report the High Court of Australia, which was tabled on 21 November 2017 in
accordance with the court's legislative provisions.
As in previous years, the annual reports
of several agencies were provided to the Minister by the prescribed date of 15
October and subsequently tabled in the House of Representatives before or at the
time of the Supplementary Budget Estimates hearings (17 and 18 October 2016),
but were not received by the Senate or referred to the committee until 7
November 2016.[7]
These reports included:
-
Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity;
-
Australian Crime Commission;
-
Australian Institute of Criminology;
-
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation;
-
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre;
-
CrimTrac Agency;
-
Federal Circuit Court of Australia; and
-
Federal Court of Australia.
Furthermore, the report of the Australian Human Rights
Commission was not tabled in either chamber nor referred to the committee until
3 November 2016[8]
and the report of National Archives of Australia was not tabled in either
chamber nor referred to the committee until 17 November 2016.[9]
The committee continues to encourage bodies to table annual
reports before the Supplementary Budget Estimates hearings in October each
year, in accordance with best practice, as outlined in RMG No. 135.[10]
Comments made in the Senate
Under the terms of Standing Order 25(20)(d), the committee
is required to take into account any relevant remarks made about an annual
report in debate in the Senate. The committee did not identify any relevant
remarks made about the annual reports referred during this reporting period.
Requirement for non-reporting bodies to report
In accordance with Standing Order 25(20)(h), the committee
is required to report on bodies that do not present an annual report to the
Senate and which should present such a report.
The committee identified that the Family Law Council, a
statutory committee in the Attorney-General's portfolio, failed to table an
annual report for 2015–16 in accordance with subsection 115(9) of the Family
Law Act 1975.
On this occasion, the committee is unaware of any other body
required to table an annual report for 2015–16 which has failed to do so.
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