The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms AE Burke) took the chair at 09:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the honourable member for Fadden speaking in reply to my statement for a period not exceeding 19 minutes.
That the following Federation Chamber orders of the day, private Members’ business, be returned to the House for further consideration:
No. 9—Accountability and transparency of unions;
No. 10—Strong Australian economy;
No. 15—Autism Spectrum Disorder;
No. 6—School and work; and
No. 3—Business Assistance Payments and the live cattle export ban.
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following items of private Members’ business being called on and considered immediately in the following order:
Australian standard for olive oil—Order of the day No. 27;
Autism Spectrum Disorder—Order of the day;
Army Reserve bands—Order of the day No. 26;
International Year of Cooperatives—Order of the day No. 29;
Chinese-Australians—Order of the day No. 31;
School and work—Order of the day;
Motorcycle safety—Order of the day No. 21;
International aviation and emissions trading—Order of the day No. 23;
Accountability and transparency of unions—Order of the day;
Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme—Order of the day No. 22;
Business Assistance Payments and the live cattle export ban—Order of the day; and
Strong Australian economy—Order of the day.
That the motion be amended by omitting paragraph 2(c), and replacing it with:
'(c) join in other appropriate international action to prevent the application of the European Union ETS to non-European Union airspace'
[The House divided. [09:46]
(The Deputy Speaker—Ms AE Burke)
[The House divided. [09:53]
(The Deputy Speaker—Ms AE Burke)
The House divided. [09:59]
(The Deputy Speaker—Hon. Anna Burke)
The House divided [10:02]
(Deputy Speaker—Ms AE Burke)
… a successful strategy involves more than just one ministry, one area. It needs the best people in the country to put their minds together to work out how to stop people being exposed in the future …
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Ms Ley speaking for a period not exceeding 17 minutes.
Directing the majority of postal vote applications to the electoral commissioner will enable the centralised processing by computers and the centralised dispatch of postal vote packages.
So you are giving me an undertaking today that you will in fact delegate to DROs?
Good. So there will be no attempt to not delegate to them? I accept your word that you will delegate to DROs.
The process that you see as a member of parliament or, rather, will see as a candidate, where you would take your postal vote applications to your local office, will still be there.
Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011
Workers, their families and their communities are holding on for grim life in the face of imports that unfairly undercut them. They expect urgent action from their representatives.
The cost advantage that imported manufactured illegally logged wood products unfairly enjoy over manufactured products that utilise legal timber is conservatively estimated to be 20 per cent of the total cost of production.
Wood products represent the second largest sector in Australia's manufacturing industry and cheap, imported products are costing workers their jobs and killing their communities.
We had bipartisan support for taking action on preventing imports of illegally logged timber and imported wood products that utilise it. We have had three separate inquiries, each of which has recommended action.
Further delays are not acceptable and not feasible for timber processing and wood products manufacturing workers, their families and their communities. Their livelihoods are on the line.
The current eco-labelling accreditation schemes are a long way from perfect, and need to be improved. Then you have countries like Indonesia and Malaysia that have developed their own accreditation schemes, but in several instances, these have been shown to be fairly lax.
During a recent visit to Sumatra, I witnessed the felling of large expanses of native rainforests, which are being chopped up and fed into the world's largest wood-pulp plant, located nearby, and replaced by monocultures of exotic acacia trees.
That is an incredible figure, twice the amount imported annually by leading industrial nations.
Samling is the largest Malaysian logging company operating in the state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo in Malaysia, where it is logging in an area two-thirds the size of Wales. Samling has a history of illegal logging and abuse of indigenous people's rights in Malaysia, Guyana, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. In 2009, the Norwegian Government published a report documenting illegal logging by Samling and instructed its state-owned pension fund to divest its significant shareholdings.
I see people's livelihood destroyed in terms of their life's sustenance. Huge parts of the virgin forest cleared used to be where people do their gardening, hunting, and collecting of different food stuff and materials for building their local traditional houses and homes.
Workers, their families and their communities are holding on for grim life in the face of imports that unfairly undercut them. They expect urgent action from their representatives.
The cost advantage that imported manufactured illegally logged wood products unfairly enjoy over manufactured products that utilise legal timber is conservatively estimated to be 20 per cent of the total cost of production.
Wood products represent the second largest sector in Australia's manufacturing industry and cheap, imported products are costing workers their jobs and killing their communities.
We had bipartisan support for taking action on preventing imports of illegally logged timber and imported wood products that utilise it. We have had three separate inquiries, each of which has recommended action.
Further delays are not acceptable and not feasible for timber processing and wood products manufacturing workers, their families and their communities. Their livelihoods are on the line.
The Committee recommends that the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011 be passed.
The Committee recommends that the Government continues to consult closely with the Governments of Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and other relevant stakeholders on implementation of the bill and the development of subordinate legislation.
The Committee recommends that the Government facilitate Malaysia and Papua New Guinea’s representation on the Illegal Logging Working Group convened by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
• a prohibition on illegally logged and timber and wood products (with an additional prohibition on the processing of illegally processed raw logs)
and
• a requirement for industry to carry out due diligence to mitigate the risk of importing illegal logged timber into Australia.
… fully supports the bill's overall objective to reduce the harmful environmental, social and economic impacts of illegal logging as well as to impose penalties on those who import illegal logged timber into Australia.
This will be the last time we are helping Australia deal with its foreign refugee influx problem.
Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is under new strain, with Jakarta frustrated by the federal government’s “dysfunction” and neglect of its relationship with its near neighbour.
Indonesia’s Trade Minister, Gita Wirjawan, has blasted the Gillard government's lack of consultation over an illegal logging bill which he says threatens the future of Indonesia’s $5 billion export forestry industry. He is threatening to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organisation if it proceeds.
The implementation of the bill and subordinate legislation may impose unnecessary burdens on trade in forest products from countries with effective legislation supervision and discourage imports of timber products into Australia.
As a result of the imposition of greater burdens on imported timber products the implementation of the bill could favour processing of timber products in Australia to the detriment of Australian consumers.
The implementation of the bill has the potential to have a significant negative impact on New Zealand's forestry industry, an industry almost entirely based on privately owned plantation forests that are established specifically to be harvested.
Fails to meet Australia's obligation under I.1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 not to create advantage for the like products from some parties to the Agreement and not others and is not covered by other provisions in the Agreement.
It breaches Australia's obligations under Article XI.1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 not to use restrictions of any kind other than duties, taxes or other charges on the importation of any product and cannot be justified under other provisions of the Agreement.
It fails to meet Australia's obligations under Article 7(1) of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement which mirrors the terms of GATT 1994 XI.1.
… particularly onerous and costly obligations on Australian producers to demonstrate product in Australia is legally produced.
The scheme and content of the Bill is so deeply flawed in its conceptual approach, based as it is upon the use of Australian courts to enforce the laws of foreign trading partners, that it should be abandoned.
Australia may need to demonstrate that it negotiated in good faith with affected countries to secure its conservation objectives before resorting to unilateral restrictive measures.
Thousands of containers of wood products shipped for consumers and landing on wharves around Australia every month are likely to be impounded under regulations in the Illegal Logging Bill.
The Government has also indicated that the regulations will come into force two years after the Bill receives Royal Assent and also indicated that the regulations will be tabled in the Parliament within six months of Royal Assent to give exporters and importers time to establish due diligence. However, the Government also made it clear that parties could be open to prosecution during this two year stand-off. This lag between the Bill and the regulations is of genuine concern.
…should not introduce the legislation until the enabling subordinate legislation is finalised, released for public comment and a satisfactory consultation period has taken place on both the legislation and the regulations.
Indonesia’s Trade Minister … blasted the Gillard governnment's lack of consultation over an illegal logging bill which he says threatens the future of Indonesia's $5 billion export forestry industry. He is threatening to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organisation if it proceeds.
As the more detailed process of developing the regulations is now underway, more in-depth consultation with stakeholders is being and will be undertaken to assist their development and to ensure they operate as intended.
The implementation of the Bill is also likely to undermine the development of trade between Indonesia and Australia based on our respective mutual interests.
While Canada has concerns related to some of the potential trade implications of the Bill, Canada is pleased that the Government of Australia is committed to ensuring that the Bill and associated regulations are consistent with international trade obligations, that they treat importers and domestic processors of timber equally, and that they are not trade distortive.
Indonesia's Trade Minister, Gita Wirjawan, has blasted the Gillard governnment's lack of consultation over an illegal logging bill which he says threatens the future of Indonesia's $5 billion export forestry industry. He is threatening to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organisation if it proceeds.
… continues to consult closely with the Governments of Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and other relevant stakeholders on implementation of the bill and the development of subordinate legislation.
… facilitate Malaysia and Papua New Guinea’s representation on the Illegal Logging Working Group convened by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
… that the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011 be passed.
… that the Bill not be passed until the draft subordinate legislation has been finalised and has been the subject of extensive community … consultation—
The implementation of the Bill is … likely to undermine the development of trade between Indonesia and Australia based on our respective mutual interests.
… four million Indonesians often in rural areas where other forms of employment do not exist.
… that the objective of the Bill is laudable, Malaysia would like to see that the implementation of the Bill will not in any way hamper the good bilateral trade relationship particularly in timber products.
The implementation of the Bill has the potential to have a significant negative impact on New Zealand's forestry industry: an industry almost entirely based on privately-owned plantation forests that are established specifically to be harvested. Australia is our second largest market for forestry products and imported NZ$824 million of these products in the year to December 2010.
... provides a high-level legislative framework to implement the government's policy to combat illegal logging.
The Bill creates a crime without adequately defining that crime: There is no list of products to be regulated, the definition of "illegal logging" is broad and the regulations do not yet exist.
… 'too much information and detail is being left to the regulations resulting in uncertainty for business (and countries).'
Related to a news article published today by the Australian Financial Review titled 'Indonesia fed up with Canberra 'dysfunction'' the Ministry of Trade, Republic of Indonesia, would like to clarify that the statement in the news report quoting Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan in the published article was not sourced, originated from the minister, nor the ministry. The ministry was never contacted with regard to the issue. There was never an interview that took place with the Indonesian Trade Minister in relation to the issue with the Australian Financial Review. The Ministry of Trade has communicated with the Australian Ambassador in Jakarta in clarifying factual information that no such comment has ever taken place in view of the Australian government in Canberra.
I would like to raise your attention to a recent news article published by the Australian Financial Review entitled Indonesia fed up with Canberra 'dysfunction', published in its 6 March 2012 print edition. For your kind information, I was subsequently informed that the lead author of the above article, John Kerin, has interviewed sources in the ministry but insisted on keeping them confidential. Nonetheless, I believe the article along with my photograph as shown is slander and misleading to the readers. We would highly appreciate a retraction of the article.
We will require Australian timber importers and domestic processing mills to undertake a process of due diligence to verify the legal origins of the timber product and to disclose species, country of harvest and any certification.
The amendment to the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill tabled by the Coalition, if accepted by Parliament, could cost thousands of jobs in vulnerable timber communities, according to the CFMEU.
"Make no mistake about it, this amendment would cost Australian jobs, hurt Australian families and kill off Australian timber communities," CFMEU National Secretary Michael O'Connor said today.
"It is a clear case of the Coalition succumbing to pressure from those who benefit from illegal logging.
"Their amendment would delay the ban on illegal logging imports from coming into effect for at least two to three years.
"Workers in the timber and wood products manufacturing industry simply cannot afford such a delay. They would rightly view support for this amendment as a kick in the guts at a time when timber and manufacturing workers desperately need those in Canberra to stand up for them.
"Wood products represent the second largest sector in Australia's manufacturing industry and cheap, illegally-sourced imported products are strangling it.
"This amendment takes the interests of illegal loggers and their criminal syndicates overseas - as well as unscrupulous importers of timber and timber product —and places them above the interests of Australian workers.
"The Coalition needs to be clear: Do they want to look after the livelihoods of Australian workers who are getting unfairly undercut or not?
"Any supporters of this amendment should, quite frankly, be ashamed of themselves."
(1) Clause 8, page 7 (line 8), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.
(2) Clause 9, page 7 (line 17), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.
(3) Clause 12, page 9 (line 7), at the end of the clause, add:
; and (d) the thing is not prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
(4) Clause 13, page 9 (line 16), at the end of the clause, add:
; and (d) the thing is not prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
(5) Clause 15, page 11 (line 21), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.
(6) Clause 15, page 11 (line 23), after “prescribed”, insert “as exempt”.
(7) Clause 15, page 11 (line 24), at the end of subclause (1), add:
; and (f) the raw log is not of a kind prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
(8) Clause 17, page 13 (line 20), at the end of subclause (1), add:
; and (d) the raw log is not of a kind prescribed as exempt by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
(9) Clause 18, page 14 (line 24), after “industry”, insert “or certifying”.
(1) Clause 2, page 1 (line 8) to page 2 (line 9), omit the clause, substitute:
2 Commencement
This Act commences on 1 July 2015.
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah moving immediately:
That this House calls on the Prime Minister to speak for ten minutes and to apologise for misleading the Australian people five days before the last election when she said "there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead."
I want to be very clear with Australians about what pricing carbon does: it has price impacts. It is meant to. That is the whole point.
The House divided. [15:37]
(The Deputy Speaker—Ms AE Burke)
That the House take note of the following documents:
Freedom of Information Act 1982—Review of the operation of the Act as it applies to documents held by NBN Co. Limited—Report to the Attorney-General—29 June 2012.
Social Policy and Legal Affairs—House of Representatives Standing Committee—Reclaiming public space: Inquiry into the regulation of billboard and outdoor advertising—Government response.
Fisheries Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2012
That this bill be now read a third time.
Health Insurance Amendment (Extended Medicare Safety Net) Bill 2012
That this bill be now read a third time.
The serious price increases now being imposed on Australian consumers and businesses on a daily basis as a result of the Government’s failure to honour its commitment not to introduce a carbon tax.
There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.
We won’t be able to get on a bus or a train, ultimately to drive our cars, without being impacted by this tax.
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives
This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House that:
We therefore ask the House to:
Amend the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act to include:
1. An additional public holiday (not a substitute day) on the following Monday and/or Tuesday whenever Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day fall on a weekend.
2. Easter Sunday as a public holiday.
Unlike the road toll, which has reduced by one third to 1,600 deaths a year and continues to decline, suicide remains a taboo subject and is sidelined in social policy. Our lack of conversation around the topic has only endorsed the silence that surrounds our young people, who often feel too ashamed, too guilty and too stigmatised to put up their hand and ask for help. By asking a young person about these feelings we give them permission to talk and, in most cases, they will feel relieved and better able to deal with the issue.
Too much water has been taken out of the Murray-Darling for too long. The chronic overuse of water has dangerously degraded South Australia's Coorong and Lower Lakes and many other internationally important wetlands and made many communities suffer.
Strong leadership from Australia's political leaders can deliver a Murray-Darling Basin Plan that restores the environment, provides certainty for regional communities and creates jobs.
I pledge my support for a Murray-Darling Basin Plan that ends the overuse of water and returns enough flow to the Murray darling to restore its health.
In a performance oriented society, what you measure affects what you do. If you have the wrong measures, you can wind up doing the wrong thing.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. BC Scott) took the chair at 09:30
He was a genuine Christian through and through and somebody to be admired and respected for sacrifices he made, forsaking comforts to improve the lives of others.
He saved me and my son once when we were in a flood out at Tuntable. He gave us food and supplies. He was a good friend who will be sadly missed.
This man has devoted all his time to God to look after and care for other people. It's going to take big shoes to fill what he was doing.
He was a very kind and compassionate man. One day I did not have any tea towels and he gave me some tea towels. He was an inspirational man.
Very sad … he was, as usual, at the market on Sunday, doing anything he could to help people who needed it. He asked to book a charity of the day … here's hoping his work will be continued. RIP, Darcy. He will be missed most especially by his loving, loyal wife, Marge.
Darcy was pure goodness and that is how he lived his life. He always said to me that out on the 'highway', as he called the journey of life, all was good and we had to help our fellow travellers. He did more than his share. May he rest in peace for a job and a journey well done.
Fisheries Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2012
Commercial fish catch contributes more than $2 billion per year to the Australian economy. Processors, marketers, retailers, consumers and many allied small businesses benefit directly or indirectly from the industry and increase its contribution to the economy.
… Australians expect species that are valuable to the economy will not be over exploited. Accurate scientific data is essential to set catch limits on species to protect their status and maximise the economic returns to Australia. Furthermore, Australians expect that threatened, endangered and protected species, such as sea lions, dolphins and albatrosses, as well as the marine environment, will be protected from damage.
Fishing in Australia is vibrant in some areas and pretty depressed in other areas. We think as a board that in overall terms the fishing industry in all its forms is at a sustainable level. It is well managed—not that there cannot be improvements—and, more than that, we believe the people of Australia want to eat fish. They want to eat Australian fish. We consider there is a bit of a disconnect—and I think this is one of the big issues—between the consumer and where the stuff comes from. There was some evidence more recently that kids at school did not know where yoghurt came from—it was grown on trees—and it is a similar story with fish. You get people in Glebe in Sydney or the inner suburbs of other cities eating fish but saying they do not believe it is sustainable. We have had some surveys that say that there is a large percentage of people who do not believe the fishing industry is sustainable, which is not in accord with what we think.
They are the sort of issues we are confronting. We do have a new strategy this year promoting the research, not the product, so that people have a better understanding of some of the issues and are not as easily believing of some of the myths that might appear in the media. We are actively trying to counter some of those myths.
We think there are opportunities to increase production in all the sectors of the fisheries.
… we have the situation now where the bottleneck is not necessarily around the science; it is around some of the policy decisions around how that science can actually be implemented.
The US-based anti-fishing organisation Pew has admitted that it pressured the Australian Government to lock anglers out of vast areas of the Coral Sea but would not take the same action in American waters because it would harm the US economy and disadvantage local fishermen.
Health Insurance Amendment (Extended Medicare Safety Net) Bill 2012
With about one million people each year receiving some cost relief from the safety net, federal Labor will not put more pressure on family budgets by taking that assistance away.
The changes to the Extended Medicare Safety Net (EMSN) appear to have been based on clinical and economic evidence and do not involve services or procedures that are regularly required by families.
We can't expect wrinkle reduction, eye lifts, nose and ear jobs to be subsidised by taxpayers.
Patients suffering macular degeneration now have peace of mind that they will have ongoing access to what is becoming an increasingly common procedure.
The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of victory.
No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer.
… or at all, about the fate of those who died beneath their bomb doors; it was because flying for eight or ten hours either in daylight formation amid flak and fighters like the men of the USAAF, or through lonely darkness, as did those of the RAF, imposed relentless strain and frequent terror. The monotony of bombing missions was shattered only when crews encountered the hellish sights and sounds of combat and bomb runs over cities in Germany or Japan.
Do you remember a small boy saying he would be a conscientious objector if war came? Things happened to change that small boy's view—talk of brutality, human suffering, atrocities—but they did not have any great effect on changing my mind for I realised we are capable of doing these deeds of which we read much these days. It is the fact that a few people wish to take freedom from the peoples of the Earth that changed my views… You may have noticed I have not mentioned fighting for one's country, for the Empire. For me this is just foolishness.
Allied aircrew, once deployed on operational fighter or bomber squadrons until the last eighteen months of the war confronted the statistical probability of their own extinction.
More than half the RAF's heavy bomber crews—
perished, 56,000 men in all.
When the alarm sounded Ribbentrop led the way down many flights of stairs to a deep shelter, sumptuously furnished. By the time he got inside the raid had begun. He shut the door and said to Molotov: 'Now that we are alone together, why should we not divide [the world]?' Molotov said: 'What will England say?' 'England,' said Ribbentrop, 'is finished. She is no more use as a Power.' 'If that is so,' said Molotov, 'why are we in this shelter, and whose are these bombs which fall?'
Sir Arthur Harris, who became Bomber Command's C-in-C in 1942, said: 'Winston's attitude to bombing was "Anything to put up a show." If we hadn't [used Bomber Command] we would only have had the U-boat war, and as he said, defence of our trade routes was not an instrument of war.' Churchill regarded the bomber offensive as a vital weapon in Western relations with Stalin, in some small degree—
Anglo-American sluggishness in launching a second front.
Norwest Christian College principal Ian Maynard said without government help, it would have been impossible to build the new classrooms.
"This BER money turned our tired 20th century classrooms into vibrant 21st century learning spaces," he said.
"The previous classrooms were like little boxes."
it was an amazing day i enjoyed it very much and i am proud to be at this school i am a girl in year six and I love it. i loved meeting these people and especially meeting ms rowland and mr swan it was the most best experience that a school could ever have …
In respect of the GP Super Clinics Program, (a) how many organisations have submitted an operational plan (i) on or before, or (ii) after, the date specified in the deliverables and milestones schedule of their funding agreement; and (b) on how many occasions has the Commonwealth notified an organisation that the operational plan (i) requires amendment, or (ii) is acceptable.
(a) As at the date of this Question on Notice there were 14 operational GP Super Clinics with an operational plan specified in the Milestone Schedule of the Funding Agreement. Of these:
(i) 10 organisations had submitted an operational plan on or before the due date specified in the Milestone Schedule of the Funding Agreement; and
(ii) four organisations had submitted an operational plan after the due date specified in the Milestone Schedule of the Funding Agreement.
(b) As at the date of this Question on Notice:
(i) there were 10 instances where the Commonwealth notified an organisation that the operational plan required amendment; and
(ii) there were 14 Clinics that were notified that the operational plan was acceptable.
In respect of the position of Associate Secretary Capability, (a) what was the business case for establishing the position, (b) on what date was the decision made to cut the position, (c) how far had recruiting progressed for filling the position, (d) what sum of money had been spent on recruiting to that position, and (e) what was the business case for no longer establishing the position.
(a) On 9 August 2011, the Minister for Defence announced two new Associate Secretary positions. The Associate Secretary Capability position was created on the advice of the former Secretary of the Department of Defence with the intent of introducing further delivery of integrated capability development, acquisition and sustainment within the Kinnaird/Mortimer framework.
(b) The decision to no longer proceed with the recruitment to the Associate Secretary Capability position was made on 3 May 2012 on the advice of current Secretary, when it was announced that the General Manager Submarines position would be created.
(c) A selection process commenced in November 2011 to fill the Associate Secretary Capability, the Associate Secretary Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Executive Officer, Defence Materiel Organisation. A draft selection report had been received but not actioned.
(d) A total figure of $96,795.89 was spent on recruitment for the Associate Secretary Capability position.
(e) The Secretary of Defence determined that a senior officer to provide coordinated oversight and outreach across Government and industry to successfully progress the current and future submarines projects was of greater importance at this time than pursuing an Associate Secretary Capability position.
(1) Can he confirm whether the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Gap Year Program has been
(a) shelved; if so, for how long, or
(b) cut altogether.
(2) In respect of the ADF Gap Year program,
(a) since inception how many people have joined, and
(b) how many program participants have transferred to (i) the regular ADF, and (ii) the ADF’s Reserve Forces.
(3) Has Defence conducted any modelling or conducted any investigations into the effect cutting the ADF Gap Year Program will have on personnel in terms of recruitment and retention.
(4) At
(a) one week,
(b) one month, and
(c) three months, prior to the release of the 2012-13 federal budget, how many ADF Gap Year program participants were,
(i) on the program, and
(ii) accepted into the program but were not yet to commence.
(5) Will ADF Gap Year program participants already on the program be forced to finish early; if so, what compensation will they be offered.
(6) Will compensation be offered to ADF Gap Year program participants accepted into the program, but who had not yet commenced.
(7) Can he confirm whether ADF personnel will be worse of as a result of the Government’s decision to cut the program for
(a) current ADF Gap Year participants, and
(b) ADF Gap Year participants accepted into the program but who have not yet commenced.
(1) (a) and (b) The program has been cancelled.
(2) (a) Since Financial Year 2007-08 there have been 2,495 Gap Year program participants.
(b) (i) and (ii) Defence does not have information available by year. On 1 May 2012 there were 700 former Gap Year participants serving in the permanent Australian Defence Force.
(3) No. Defence will continue to use other recruitment options that allow for a reduced initial period of minimum service of 12 months, meaning that a similar experience to the gap year program can be provided.
(4) (a), (b) and (c) (i) and (ii)—
(5) Current Gap Year participants will not be forced to finish the program early.
(6) One candidate was provided with an offer of employment but chose not to pursue an alternate avenue of entry. The candidate was given five months notice prior to their enlistment date and no request for compensation has been received from the applicant.
(7) (a) Participants in the Gap Year Scheme will not be worse off as they will be able to complete their commitment. (b) The one candidate affected was provided with five months notice, prior to their enlistment date, of the Gap Year program closure and informed of other career options which were declined.
For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, what was the total cost of overseas travel for departmental staff.
(a) 2008-09 - $5,748,732
(b) 2009-10 - $7,618,442
(c) 2010-11 - $7,967,882
(d) 2011-12 - $8,287,935
For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, what was the total cost of overseas travel for departmental staff.
(a) For the financial year 2008-09, Defence spent $69.2m on overseas business related travel for departmental staff.
(b) For the financial year 2009-10, Defence spent $64.7m on overseas business related travel for departmental staff.
(c) For the financial year 2010-11, Defence spent $70.9m on overseas business related travel for departmental staff.
(d) For the financial year 2011-12, Defence spent $83.5m on overseas business related travel for departmental staff.
For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, what was the total cost of overseas travel for departmental staff.
Please refer to the answer provided to House of Representatives Parliamentary Question on Notice 1084.
For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, what was the total cost of overseas travel for departmental staff.
(a) 2008-09 $2,548,158
(b) 2009-10 $2,515,344
(c) 2010-11 $2,340,155
(d)2011-12 $2,385,713
Note the figures above include travel costs for the Therapeutic Goods Administration and National Health and Medical Research Council.
For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, what was the total cost of overseas travel for departmental staff.
Please refer to the answer provided to House of Representatives Parliamentary Question on Notice 1084.