Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 69
Output:  	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Staffing levels - Parks Australia - NT	
Hansard Page ECITA:	126

Senator Crossin asked: 	
You will need to take this on notice, but I am wondering if you can tell me the number of staff you have at Parks Australia in the Northern Territory both now and over the last two years by level of designation in the Public Service.

Answer:
The table below shows the number of DNP employees within the Northern Territory at six-month intervals over the last two years. These figures are for Parks Australia North (Darwin Office, Kakadu and Uluru), excluding Christmas Island and Cocos Islands. These figures include ongoing and non-ongoing employees including seasonal rangers but do not include intermittent or irregular (casual) employees such as day labourers.

	Parks Australia North (NT) - Headcount	
Level	Jan-05	Jun-04	Jan-04	Jun-03	Jan-03	
APS 1/2	48	58	50	63	61	
APS 3	31	30	25	30	30	
APS 4	19	23	23	21	18	
APS 5	11	9	9	10	8	
APS 6	13	15	15	15	14	
APS EXEC Level 1	8	7	6	4	5	
APS EXEC Level 2	3	2	3	3	3	
SES Band 1	1	1	1	1	1	
	134	145	132	147	140	

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 70
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	No. of vehicles based in the NT
Hansard Page ECITA:	126

Senator Crossin asked:
Can you please provide for me the number of vehicles and the types of vehicles that you now have based in the Northern Territory and that you have had over the last two years?

Answer/s:
The following table outlines the quantity and types of vehicles registered in the Northern Territory.
Motor Vehicle Types	As at 30 June 2003	As at 30 June 2004	As at 28 February 2005	
4 Wheel Drive vehicles	52	46	46	
Trucks	20	16	17	
Cars	22	20	20	
Total Motor Vehicles	94	82	83	

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 71
Output: 	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Parks Australia Budget
Hansard Page ECITA:	126

Senator Crossin asked: 	
The maintenance budget that I have, in fact, shows a significant decrease for each year for the last six years. There is no injection of funds in the maintenance budget – is that correct?

Mr Cochrane – Yes, there has been; that is correct. I would prefer to take on notice a detailed explanation of why some of these previous years were high, because some of them look very high looking back.

Answer:
The maintenance budget is set each year in line with operational needs and available funding. While maintenance figures are a true reflection of the accounts, in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 items of a capital nature were expensed incorrectly in these years. This makes the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 years look high in relation to maintenance. Offsetting these maintenance figures is low expenditure for capital assets. The maintenance and capital expenditure figures should be looked at in total and then compared year on year. This comparison shows a real increase over time.
Extract of table relating to Kakadu question on notice provided in November 2004.

Description	1999-2000
Actuals $’000	2000-2001
Actuals $’000	2001-2002
Actuals $’000	2002-2003
Actuals $’000	2003-2004
Actuals $’000	
Maintenance	3,039	2,354	1,708	1,269	1,660	
Capital Expenditure	1,144	1,480	3,972	3,912	4,252	
Total	4,183	3,834	5,680	5,181	5,912	

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 72
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Parks Australia Budget
Hansard Page ECITA:	127

Senator Crossin asked: 	
What estimated savings are there in the coming financial year in doing this? (Reducing the size of the vehicle fleet.)

Answer:
For each vehicle that is not replaced (i.e. reducing in the size of the vehicle fleet) the expected annual saving to the park is approximately $12,100.

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 73
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Kakadu Lease Agreement
Hansard Page ECITA:	128

Senator Crossin asked:
Do you have those amounts (Traditional Owner share of revenue from Kakadu National Park Entry Fees) for me for the last five years at all?  Can I ask you to provide that?

Answer/s:
The following table summarises the amount of traditional owner payments for 2000 to 2004 calendar years.

	2000
$	2001
$	2002
$	2003
$	2004
$	
38.8% of Park Entry Fees	985,857	926,517	966,402	966,676	846,317	

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 74
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Hanson Stanley Report
Hansard Page ECITA:	126

Senator Crossin asked: 	
Is that report something that can be made available to the committee?

Answer:
A copy of the report cannot be provided at this stage.

The Director of National Parks is in the process of obtaining an agreement for the public release of the report from the consortium that sponsored this work. The Director is only one party in the consortium (which includes private companies).

With the agreement of the consortium, the report will be distributed to the committee.

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 75
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Morse-King Report
Hansard Page ECITA:	133

Senator Crossin asked:
I have only ever seen a draft of that report. Is it possible for you to provide this committee with a copy of that report?

Answer/s:
A copy of the report is attached.

Outcome:	1. Environment		Question No: 76
Output:	1.9  Parks and Reserves
Division/Agency:	Parks Australia Division
Topic:	Feral Animal Control
Hansard Page ECITA:	133

Senator Crossin asked:
I would like for the last three years, if its possible within your budget, a breakdown of the amount of money you spent of feral animal control?  
Can you break it down to Kakadu?  And are there any other subprograms of that nature, like crazy ants or the weed control?
Can you provide me with the capital budget for the Uluru park for the last year and for this year? In the same way you answered questions 3 and 4?  And the operations budget for Uluru for last year and this year?

Answer/s:

Description	2001-2002
Actuals $’000	2002-2003
Actuals $’000	2003-2004
Actuals $’000	2004-2005
Budget $’000	
Feral Animal Control	484	494	593	0	
Weed Control	208	211	254	818	
Total	692	705	847	818	

There are no crazy ants in Kakadu National Park.

The annual infrastructure and maintenance budget for each of the last five years for Uluru National Park is shown below:

Description	1999-2000
Actuals $’000	2000-2001
Actuals $’000	2001-2002
Actuals $’000	2002-2003
Actuals $’000	2003-2004
Actuals $’000	
Maintenance	1,254	705	938	786	833	
Capital Expenditure	399	3,706	5,431	2,557	4,646	
Total	1,653	4,411	6,369	3,343	5,479	

The projected annual infrastructure and maintenance budget for Uluru National Park for the next two years is:

Description	2004-2005
Estimate $’000	2005-2006
Estimate $’000	
Maintenance	547	550	
Capital Expenditure	2310	3000	
Total	2,857	3,550	

The operational budget for Uluru for the last year and this year is:

Description	2003-2004
 $’000	2004-2005
 $’000	
Operational Budget	12,045	12,807