Chapter 1 - Overview
1.1
The committee is responsible for examining the annual
reports of departments and agencies within two portfolios:
-
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; and
-
Transport and Regional Services.
Terms of reference
1.2
Under Senate Standing Order 25(21), annual
reports of departments and agencies shall stand referred to the legislation 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; and
- 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.[1]
Purpose of annual reports
1.3
The tabling and scrutiny of annual reports is an
important element in the process of accountability to Parliament. The information
provided in annual reports is placed on the public record and assists
Parliament to examine the performance of departments and agencies and the
administration of government programs.
Requirements
1.4
The annual reports are examined by the committee
to determine whether they are timely and 'apparently satisfactory'. In forming
its assessment the committee considers whether the reports comply with the
relevant legislation and guidelines for the preparation of annual reports:
-
for departments of state and executive agencies:
Public Service Act 1999, subsections
63(2) and 70(2), and the Requirements for
Annual Reports for Department, Executive Agencies and FMA Act Bodies, Department
of Prime Minister and Cabinet, updated June 2005 and approved by the Joint Committee
of Public Accounts and Audit on 29 June 2005.
-
for commonwealth authorities and companies: the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act
1997 (the CAC Act), sections 9,
36 and 48, and the Commonwealth
Authorities and Companies (Report of Operations) Orders 2002.
-
for non-statutory bodies: the requirements are
contained in the Government response to the report of the Senate Standing
Committee on Finance and Government Operations on Non-statutory bodies, Senate Hansard, 8 December 1987, pp. 2643–45.
Reports referred to the committee
1.5
Under Standing Order 25(21)(f), the committee is
required to report on annual reports tabled by 31 October each year by the
tenth sitting day of the following year. This year, that date is 29 March 2006. However the Committee
sought and obtained an extension of time to report until the Budget sittings in
May. The committee is also required to report on annual reports tabled by 30
April each year by the tenth sitting after 30 June of that year.
1.6
This report considers annual reports which were tabled
in the Senate or presented to the President between 1 May 2005 and 31 October 2005.
1.7
The committee examined 8 annual reports of
agencies within the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio and 6 annual
reports of agencies within the Transport and Regional Services portfolio. A
complete list of reports referred to the committee (including those not
examined) appears at Appendix 1.
Reports not examined
1.8
The committee is not obliged to report on Acts,
statements of corporate intent, surveys, corporate plans or errata. The
following 8 documents were referred to the committee and not examined:
-
Australian Rail Track Corporation Ltd: Statement
of corporate intent 2005-06;
-
Civil Aviation Safety Authority: Corporate plan
2005-06 to 2007-08;
-
Dairy
Produce Act 1986: Funding contract with Dairy Australia Ltd–Report for
2003–2004;
-
Department of Agriculture Fisheries and
Forestry: Innovating rural Australia: Research and development corporation
outcomes–report for 2004;
-
Local
Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995: Report for 2003–04 on the
operation of the Act;
-
National Residue Survey Report for 2004–05;
-
Sydney
Airport Demand Management Act 1997: Quarterly report on the maximum
movement limit for Sydney Airport for the period 1 October to 31 December 2004;
and
-
Sydney
Airport Demand Management Act 1997: Quarterly report on the maximum
movement limit for Sydney Airport for the period 1 January to 31 March 2005.
Timeliness
1.9
The Requirements
for Annual Reports specify that annual reports must be tabled in parliament
by 31 October each year, except where an agency's own legislation provides a
timeframe for its annual report.[2] For
agencies reporting under the CAC Act, annual reports must be given to the
responsible Minister by 15 October.[3]
1.10
A number of annual reports were tabled in the
Senate after the relevant deadlines, and beyond the date they may be considered
within this report. In most cases, this was due to delays in Ministers
providing the reports for tabling, rather than the agencies themselves failing
to meet the deadline for publishing their annual report. The agencies whose
reports were tabled late will be examined in the next report on annual reports.
A list of these reports appears at Appendix 2.
Quality
1.11
Under Standing Order 25(21)(a) the committee is
required to examine reports and inform the Senate as to whether they are 'apparently
satisfactory'. The committee considers compliance with the reporting guidelines
stipulated by the legislation under which various departments and agencies present
their annual reports.
1.12
The committee is pleased to note that the annual
reports examined generally adhered satisfactorily to the relevant reporting
requirements and were presented to a high standard. Where relevant, reports
detailed programs and activities with a focus on performance measurement
against outcomes and goals, in relation to forecasts listed in the Portfolio
Budget Statements.
1.13
The committee notes section 6(2) of the
Commonwealth Authorities and Companies (Report of Operations) Orders 2002,
which states that the report of operations "should be free of ambiguity,
jargon and excessive use of acronyms and technical terms".
1.14
Further, while no longer mandatory, the committee
recommends the inclusion of a compliance index in annual reports, which preferably
should include a nil return entry where the agency has nothing to report under
an item. Such an index greatly assists the committee's task in assessing the
reports, and also should assist the agencies by clearly showing that compliance
obligations have been met.
1.15
Specifically, the committee considers that the
Australian Maritime College and the National Transport Commission reports would
benefit from including compliance indexes. Neither of these reports included a
statement of corporate governance nor an assessment of performance in
implementing the Commonwealth's disability strategy. The committee found it
difficult to assess whether these reports complied with requirements in other
areas. A compliance index specifying a nil return where applicable would assist
greatly.
1.16
The committee notes that the National Transport
Commission is only subject to certain provisions of the CAC Act, but one of
these is section 9 which covers its annual reporting requirements. The
Commission's report was an A4 sized document. The guidelines for the
presentation of government documents, government responses, ministerial
statements & other instruments to the parliament specify that reports
should be printed in international B5 size. In any case, documents that are to
be included in the Parliamentary Papers series (such as the annual reports of
departments and agencies) must be provided in the B5 size.
1.17
Although not subject to the timeframes in the CAC
Act or the Financial Management and Accountability (FMA) Act, there appear to
have been significant delays in the tabling of the following reports:
-
Northern
Territory Fisheries Joint Authority Report 2000-01;
-
Northern
Territory Fisheries Joint Authority Report 2001-02;
-
Northern
Territory Fisheries Joint Authority Report 2002-03;
-
Torres
Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority Report 2002-03;
-
Western
Australian Fisheries Joint Authority Report 2001-02; and
-
Western
Australian Fisheries Joint Authority Report 2002-03.
1.18
The committee has written to the Australian
Fisheries Management Authority requesting additional advice about the fisheries
joint authorities and will examine these reports in the light of that advice
when it is received.
1.19
The committee encourages all agencies to provide
a specific date with the letter of transmittal. The Australian
Maritime College
did not provide a specific date in its 2003 annual report and has still not
done so in its 2004 annual report. The
committee requests it to remedy this for next year.
Senate remarks on annual reports
1.20
Senate Standing Order 25(21)(d) directs the committee
to take into account remarks made in the Senate when considering annual
reports.
1.21
Senator Sterle
referred to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority annual report of 2004-05
while speaking in support of a motion relating to Australia's
border security and the problem of illegal fishing in Australian waters.[4]
Comment on significant matters
1.22
Finally, in accordance with Senate Standing
Order 25(21)(g), the committee is required to comment on significant matters
raised in annual reports. In addition to its consideration of the departmental
annual reports in Chapter 2, the committee has also considered the reports of
the following agencies in Chapter 3:
-
Airservices Australia; and
-
Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
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