Additional Budget Estimates 2012–13

Additional Budget Estimates 2012–13

Report to the Senate

Introduction

1.1        On 7 February 2013, the Senate referred to the committee for examination and report the following documents in relation to the Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education; Resources, Energy and Tourism; and Treasury portfolios:

1.2        The committee is required to report to the Senate on its consideration of 2012–13 Additional Estimates on Tuesday 19 March 2013.[2]

Portfolio structures and outcomes

1.3        The committee notes the following changes to two portfolios' responsibilities as reported in Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2012–13:

Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education:
Resources, Energy and Tourism:

1.4        The complete structure and outcomes for each portfolio are summarised in the appendices as indicated below:

General comments

1.5        The committee conducted hearings over two days:

1.6        In total, the committee met for 21 hours and 19 minutes, excluding breaks.

1.7        The committee received evidence from the following Senators:

1.8        The committee thanks the ministers and officers who attended the hearings for their assistance. Evidence was also provided by:

1.9        The committee is concerned about insufficient time available for questioning the three portfolio departments and agencies ever since the machinery of government changes on 12 December 2011 which added a third outcome, tertiary education and skills, to the former Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Questions on notice

1.10      The committee draws the attention of all departments and agencies to the agreed deadline of Friday, 5 April 2013 for the receipt of answers to questions taken on notice from this round, in accordance with Standing Order 26.

1.11      As the committee is required to report before responses to questions are due, this report has been prepared without reference to any of these responses.
Indices of questions taken on notice during and after the hearings are available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Senate_Estimates/economicsctte/estimates/add1213/index.

1.12      Answers to questions taken on notice are tabled in the Senate. They may be accessed from the committee's website.

1.13      For the 201213 Supplementary Budget Estimates round, answers to questions on notice were due to be provided to the committee by Friday, 7 December 2012. The committee commends the Resources, Energy and Tourism portfolio for submitting all answers on time. The committee notes that:

Procedural issues

1.14      On a few occasions, officers were asked to express their opinions and views on matters of policy or hypothetical situations.[3] As per the Government guidelines for official witnesses before Parliamentary Committees and related matters released in November 1989, public servants are not expected to comment on policy or express their opinion on matters of policy.

1.15      On three occasions during the hearing held on Wednesday 13 February, various reasons were outlined for not providing the information requested:

Public interest immunity claims

1.16      On 13 May 2009, the Senate passed an order relating to public interest immunity claims.[7] The order, moved by Senator Cormann, set out the processes to be followed if a witness declines to answer a question. The full text of this order was provided to departments and agencies prior to the hearings and was also incorporated in the Chair's opening statements on both days of the Additional Estimates hearings.

Ordinary annual services of the government

1.17      On 17 June 2010, the Appropriations and Staffing Committee tabled its 50th Report in the Senate. The report focused on an ongoing issue relating to
the classification of ordinary annual services of the government. In the report,
the Appropriations and Staffing Committee highlighted that:

Expenditure for the ordinary annual services of the government has always been contained in a separate bill to preserve the Senate's right under section 53 of the Constitution to amend bills appropriating funds other than for the ordinary annual services of the government and to comply with section 54.[8]

1.18      In this most recent report, the Appropriations and Staffing Committee restated concerns it had raised in its 45th Report:

Recent appropriation bills have been based on a mistaken assumption that the committee agreed to abandon the long-standing principle that all new policies would be classified as not part of the ordinary annual services of the government, and that the committee agreed that any expenditure falling within an existing outcome would be classified as ordinary annual services expenditure.  On this view, completely new programs and projects may be started up using money appropriated for the ordinary annual services of the government, and the Senate is unable to distinguish between normal ongoing activities of government and new programs and projects or to identify the expenditure on each of those areas.[9]

1.19      The Appropriations and Staffing Committee considered correspondence from the Minister for Finance and Deregulation in relation to the matter and noted 'that the Minister's response has not provided a way forward to resolve this difference of view.'[10] The committee therefore resolved that:

...the solution to the problem is to return to the Senate's original determination, so that new policies for which no money has been appropriated in previous years are separately identified in their first year in the appropriation bill which is not for the ordinary annual services of the government.[11]

1.20      In light of this, the Economics Legislation Committee draws the attention of the Senate to measures included in Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2012–2013, that is, the ordinary annual services bill, that appear to be new policies for which no money has been previously appropriated. These include:

Record of proceedings

1.21      This report does not attempt to analyse the evidence presented over the two days of hearings. However, it does include a brief list of the issues that were traversed by the committee for the three portfolios.

1.22      Copies of the Hansard transcripts, documents tabled at the hearings and additional information provided following the hearings (see Appendix 2 for a list of the documents) are tabled in the Senate and available on the committee's website.

1.23      Page numbers in brackets following the topics listed below refer to Proof Hansard transcripts. Page numbers in the Official Hansard transcripts, once they are produced, may differ from the page numbers in the Proofs.

Matters raised – Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education portfolio

1.24      On 13 February 2013, the committee examined the estimates for the:

1.25      Matters examined included the following:

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Australian Research Council (ARC)

Office of the Chief Scientist

Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education [Outcome 1: Industry and Innovation]

Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education [Outcome 1: Industry and Innovation] and small business

Outcome 1: Industry and Innovation
Small Business Commissioner

Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
[Science and Research] and Questacon

Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education [Tertiary Education and Skills] and the National Advisory for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment (NATESE)

Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA)

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)

Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)

Matters raised – Resources, Energy and Tourism portfolio

1.26      On 14 February 2013, the committee examined the estimates for the:

1.27      Matters examined included the following:

Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism [Tourism] and Tourism Australia

·                          the tourism trade deficit and the release of the national satellite account
(pp 3–4);

Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism [Resources and Energy] and Geoscience Australia

Matters raised – Treasury Portfolio

1.28      On 13 February 2013, the committee examined the estimates for the:

1.29      On 14 February 2013, the committee examined the estimates for the:

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM)

Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC)

Productivity Commission

Treasury [Macroeconomic Group]

Treasury [Fiscal Group] and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC)

Fiscal Group
Clean Energy Finance Corporation ()CEFC)

Treasury [Markets Group]

Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT)

Treasury [Revenue Group] with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

 

Senator Mark Bishop
Chair

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