The Australian Parliament’s international program focuses on parliamentary engagement, cooperation  and strengthening, with an emphasis on parliamentary relations with countries in the Asia–Pacific region.

Activities and projects in 2013–14 were coordinated primarily through the International and Community  Relations Office (ICRO), with input from all four parliamentary departments. ICRO is a joint office which is administered by this department but also receives part funding from the Department of the Senate.

In 2013–14, the budget allocation for the component was $1.932 million and expenditure was $1.017 million. Staff levels, by location, are shown in Appendix 11.

Performance summary

In the first half of the financial year there was less visit activity because the federal election was held at that time. With the commencement of the Forty-fourth Parliament, a comprehensive schedule of incoming and outgoing visits provided the opportunity to enhance links with a number of national parliaments. The Australian Parliament continued to play an active role in parliamentary associations to which it belongs. New opportunities emerged to support the capacity building of Pacific parliaments.

Parliamentary engagement

During 2013–14, the department coordinated 13 official visits overseas, which included bilateral visits to seven countries; attendance at five conferences, workshops and seminars; and five other visits (see Appendixes 8 and 9). There were seven official visits to Australia by parliamentary delegations from other countries as guests of the Australian Parliament (see Appendix 6) and 12 other visits. The regional focus of the visits program was maintained. Six of the seven official visits to Australia were from parliaments in the Asia–Pacific region.

For the 2014 outgoing delegations program, committee visits overseas were modified. A visit to one other Pacific region country was added to the longstanding New Zealand committee exchange, to enhance the opportunities for regional engagement. In addition to visiting New Zealand, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee also visited Vanuatu as part of the exchange in May 2014 to explore issues relating to defence cooperation, international aid and tourism. There was a commensurate change to the annual Asia–Pacific committee visit, which was modified to become a parliamentary committee visit to Asia. The joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works was selected to undertake that visit in July 2014 to inspect new Australian embassy facilities in Indonesia and Thailand, in line with its role of reviewing major public works projects.

Outgoing and incoming delegations gave positive feedback on the quality of the programs, both at debrief meetings and through correspondence. For example, the Deputy President of the Malaysian Senate, who led a parliamentary delegation to Australia in May 2014, wrote to ICRO staff personally to thank them for the arrangements made for the delegation, stating that the assistance was provided ‘in a most professional manner’.

To enhance links with parliaments of Latin America, the Presiding Officers approved the introduction of a multi-country Latin American delegation visit to Australia, following strong support for this initiative from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This visit represents a further evolution of the incoming visits program. Invitations were issued to 10 parliaments for the visit, which is scheduled to take place in August and September 2014.

Parliamentary cooperation

The Australian Parliament maintained its commitment to regional and international parliamentary cooperation. In 2013–14, delegations attended the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assemblies, the Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference, and the Australian and Pacific Presiding Officers and Clerks Conference.

The restructure of parliamentary groups, agreed at the end of the Forty-third Parliament, was implemented from the commencement of the Forty-fourth Parliament, resulting in the establishment of 11 new parliamentary networks based on regional groupings. The parliamentary networks, and individual country groups formed under those networks, will provide an important link between the Australian Parliament and other national parliaments, as well as the diplomatic community.

As part of continuing efforts to engage Pacific parliaments with the work of the IPU, ICRO coordinated a two-day regional workshop in Tonga in November 2013, in association with the IPU and the Tongan Legislative Assembly. The workshop theme was ‘Modern parliaments: the Pacific perspective’, and participants considered three issues: the professional development of parliamentarians; gender-sensitive parliaments; and the role of parliamentarians in progressing policy issues, with a focus on oceans policy. Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff from 13 Pacific parliaments attended the workshop, and a 30-point outcomes statement was issued at its conclusion. Funding for the workshop was provided by the Australian aid program, the IPU, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Centre for Democratic Institutions, demonstrating the successful partnerships ICRO has developed to encourage parliamentary cooperation in the region.

As part of transitional arrangements following the withdrawal of the Australian Parliament from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in December 2012, ICRO continued to support the work of the w.comm national women’s parliamentary group. This included coordination of a young women’s forum in Sydney in November 2013, which brought together young women and women parliamentarians from Australia’s federal, state and territory parliaments. This was the second time the forum had been conducted, and for the first time it also included young women and parliamentarians from Pacific island parliaments. A statement of action was issued at the end of the forum to outline ways in which young women’s engagement with politics and parliament could be encouraged.

Parliamentary strengthening

Support for democratic development at the international level was provided through established capacity-building programs and by responding to requests for assistance received from other parliaments and international organisations.

The Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships program and the Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships Project have become flagship initiatives to drive capacity building in the region. A range of activities were coordinated under both programs during 2013–14, including:

• parliamentary skills seminars for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff
• exchange programs for parliamentarians
• attachments from and to Australia to provide training and mentoring for Pacific parliamentary staff
• research scholarships
• study visits to Australia focusing on the roles and responsibilities of senior parliamentarians and senior parliamentary staff in managing the parliament
• professional development conferences focusing on library services, research and parliamentary education and outreach
• development of ICT and legal and research strategies
• provision of ICT equipment to improve the systems supporting the work of Pacific parliaments and their members.

The parliamentary development specialist at the UNDP Pacific Centre described the Australian Parliament’s set-up for outreach and international work as ‘one of the best I have come across’. The Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships program is an effective and well-regarded program, with a recent evaluation by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stating:

The report demonstrates the comprehensive range of training and practical assistance that were delivered and vital networks and relationships that were fostered over the three years. It is clear that the Department of the House of Representatives has a strong facilitation role in building partnerships not only between Pacific and Australian legislatures but with other Pacific and New Zealand stakeholders.

Two new projects were established under the Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships program with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Centre for Democratic Institutions. The new projects will provide capacity building to support the re-establishment of the Fiji Parliament and the ongoing development of the Papua New Guinea Parliament.
Eleven study visits from parliaments from Africa, Asia and the Pacific were also arranged in response to requests received. The study visits focused on a diverse range of parliamentary issues, including practice and procedure, administration, services to parliamentarians, and outreach.

The Clerk of the House participated in two capacity-building activities for the Myanmar Parliament in May and June 2014: executive management training for the parliament’s senior management team and assistance in developing the parliament’s strategic plan. The activities formed part of the capacity-building activities being coordinated by the IPU and UNDP, and follow on from support provided to the Myanmar Parliament over the previous two years.

Improving performance

Digital apps were introduced for outgoing parliamentary delegations to enable all material to be provided to delegation members in electronic form. Feedback from delegation members at debrief meetings after visits has indicated that they find the apps useful and strongly support this initiative.

Video reports from delegations were introduced, involving filmed interviews with delegation leaders, in addition to the more traditional paper reports presented to the Houses. The videos have been loaded onto the international program web page and the House of Representatives YouTube channel, enhancing the information available to the community on the work parliamentarians undertake on delegations.

Outlook

A review of the international program was commissioned by the Presiding Officers in 2013. That review reported in April 2014 and the Presiding Officers responded in June 2014. The response provides strong endorsement of the international program as an integral part of the work of the Australian Parliament. The Presiding Officers concluded that the international program should continue to have a core focus on serving the interests of parliamentarians and, increasingly, of committees. They also welcomed the Australian Parliament’s significant and growing role in assisting capacity building and strengthening of other parliaments in the region.

The Presiding Officers’ response to the review will be implemented during 2014–15. The major aspects of the response are the establishment of an advisory group and the restructure of the administrative support functions. An Inter-Parliamentary Relations Advisory Group, consisting of two parliamentarians (appointed by the Presiding Officers in consultation with the whips), the heads of the parliamentary departments and the parliamentary librarian, will be established to provide advice to the Presiding Officers and develop a strategic plan for the international program. A restructure of the administrative support functions will be effected through the creation of two new offices, retained
within the department. An International and Parliamentary Relations Office will be established to manage the incoming and outgoing delegation programs, membership of inter-parliamentary organisations, and the international interests and travel of members and senators. A Parliamentary Skills Centre will be established to take responsibility for the delivery of all parliamentary capacitybuilding and strengthening initiatives.

New projects established under the Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships program will commence activities during 2014–15. It should be noted that the parliament does not have dedicated funding to support the various parliamentary capacity-building initiatives that it engages in; rather, the parliament has limited resources and when donor funding is identified the parliament must apply for funding allocations in competition with other providers. This places a clear limit on the extent to which the parliament can become involved in parliamentary strengthening work. Nevertheless, subject to the parliament’s strategic plan, it is hoped that, given Australia’s standing as a mature and stable democracy, whenever developing parliaments, particularly those in the region, are in need of support in capacity building, the parliament will be able to play its part.