| Output 4.2 Machinery of Government | Performance indicators |
| Advice, briefing and support on parliamentary, machinery of government, legal and cultural issues, including support for presentation of the Government’s decisions in these areas. |
Quality: The degree of satisfaction of
the Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Secretaries, the Parliamentary
Business Committee, the Prime Minister’s Office, Secretary and
departmental Executive, as expressed through formal and informal
feedback mechanisms, with the timeliness and quality of material
for the Prime Minister’s and other Ministers’ consideration.
Maintenance of clear and up-to-date guidelines
for annual reports, caretaker conventions, Guide for Official
Witnesses Appearing before Parliamentary Committees and Legislation
Handbook. Timely introduction of amendments to portfolio
legislation, as necessary. Extent to which legal actions involving the department
are successful. The degree of satisfaction of the Parliamentary
Business Committee as to the timeliness and accuracy of the production
and distribution of:
|
| Policy, coordination and promotion of awards and national symbols. |
The degree of satisfaction with support and promotion
of the Australian honours system, including:
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| Administered item: National Australia Day Council (NADC) | Quality: Grant administered in compliance with the reporting mechanisms, objectives and other provisions of the grant funding deed with the NADC so as to contribute to achieving the vision of the NADC (to inspire national pride and spirit to enrich the life of the nation). Cost of Outputs – $0.6m |
Qualitative assessment
Methodology
Output 4.2 took part in regular discussions and consultations with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Secretaries. Those contacts enabled the division to obtain ongoing feedback. The meetings of the Parliamentary Business Committee, for which the division has a secretariat role, provide an opportunity for feedback on the support the division provides to the committee. Similar opportunities are afforded by regular meetings with the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Secretaries on the legislative approval process. Through annual work assessment processes and regular performance appraisals, senior staff of the department provided formal feedback. The Prime Minister’s Office provided feedback on specific issues in the course of the year and in relation to overall performance towards the end of the reporting year.
Feedback
There was a high level of satisfaction with the advice and support provided by the division. Policy advice was seen as sound and comprehensive and, more generally, the division was considered responsive and reliable.
Key results
The Government Division had a very busy period following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 8 October 2001 that a general election would be held on 10 November 2001. The division provided support to the Government in relation to a number of other issues in 2001–02, including the establishment of two royal commissions. We also continued to provide advice on a range of government processes that contributed to the Government’s ability to develop policy and deliver programmes in a sound and well-coordinated manner. Some key results for the division are described below.
Ministerial and departmental changes
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that a general election would be held on 10 November 2001, the division was responsible for:
- advising the Prime Minister and other departments and agencies about caretaker conventions applying from when the House of Representatives was dissolved until the election result was clear (the division responded to approximately 480 requests for advice during this period)
- coordinating the preparation and provision of briefings to the Prime Minister after the election, on machinery of government matters, government operations and significant policy issues
- preparing the new consolidated Administrative Arrangements Order, made by the Governor-General in Council on 26 November 2001, and documentation necessary to effect the desired changes in portfolio arrangements for the third Howard Government
- coordinating the preparation of the charter letters from the Prime Minister identifying the strategic directions expected within each portfolio during the Government’s term of office.
Guidelines
Guidelines on the proper application of the caretaker conventions were completed and placed on the departmental website in September 2001.
Support for royal commissions
The division provided advice in relation to the HIH Royal Commission and the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry.
Centenary of Federation
The division supported the Prime Minister’s participation in a range of Centenary of Federation commemorative events. We also continued to provide reports to the Government on the implementation of major Federation Fund projects and provided input to and comment on the Australian National Audit Office’s performance audit of the administration of the major projects element of the Federation Fund.
National Australia Day Council
The division administered the Commonwealth grant to the National Australia Day Council (NADC) providing advice on a range of issues to do with the funding and activities of the council. The Commonwealth is represented on the board of the NADC by an officer of this department.
Legal actions involving the Prime Minister
The division provided instructions in relation to three cases involving the Prime Minister during the reporting period.
One case, which involved an allegation of racial discrimination, was resolved in favour of the Prime Minister and other respondents after the High Court refused the applicant special leave to appeal.
The other two cases involved threats to take legal action against the Prime Minister. The first of these related to the Aged Care Savings Bonus and did not proceed to litigation. The second, which involved an attempt to join the Prime Minister to existing proceedings for unspecified reasons, did not proceed because those proceedings were struck out beforehand.
Legal actions involving the department
Two applications for review were made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in relation to two departmental Freedom of Information decisions. The division prepared two conclusive certificates under section 34 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 covering three documents relevant to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal proceedings.
Legislation
The division coordinated and prepared a bill which amended a number of acts of parliament in order to promote the smooth and efficient operation of royal commissions. We also prepared new Royal Commission Regulations and regulations which ‘harmonised’ offence provisions in the portfolio’s regulations with chapter 2 of the Criminal Code in the Criminal Code Act 1995.
Revised Cabinet procedures for handling documents
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) concluded their investigation into the leak of a document related to the 2001–02 Budget. Although the AFP interviewed a number of staff from the department and examined telephone and electronic mail records for the relevant period, the AFP were not able to identify a suspect.
A number of additional security measures have since been put in place in the department. For example, visitors to the Cabinet Secretariat, a secure area, must now sign an attendance register; the number of copies of Cabinet briefs was reduced and now each copy is numbered; and more formalised procedures were also put in place to protect and track the movement of non-Cabinet budget related material, consistent with procedures for the handling of Cabinet documents.
Executive Agencies
The division provided advice to the Prime Minister on the establishment of Executive Agencies under section 65 of the Public Service Act 1999. The division was also responsible for preparing Executive Council papers, in consultation with relevant departments and agencies, to effect the creation of the Bureau of Meteorology (in June 2002), the abolition of the Office of Asset Sales and Commercial Support (in November 2001) and the amendment of the functions of the National Office of the Information Economy (in June 2002).
Honours system
The division undertook a range of promotional activities in support of the Government’s public education and communications campaign to make Australian honours more accessible and better known to all Australians.
Activities included the redevelopment and upgrading of the honours website. The website now provides up-to-date information about Australian honours as well as information about the National Flag and the National Anthem.
In conjunction with the Honours Secretariat, division staff conducted regional visits to the New England region of New South Wales and to the Northern Territory, where they ran workshops to explain Australian honours to community leaders. The workshops were complemented by local media coverage.
The travelling exhibition It’s An Honour, Australia was displayed at the Darwin Parliament House and the Darwin City Council building and attracted 60,000 visitors. It was also popular in Western Australia where it was installed at the Constitutional Centre and the Alexander Library in Perth and the Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame in Kalgoorlie.
The division handled applications for the Civilian Service Medal 1939–1945, the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal and relevant medals for civilian surgical and medical teams who served during the Vietnam War, as well as requests by foreign governments to recognise the efforts of certain Australian citizens by granting them foreign awards.
The Centenary Medal was established to recognise people who have made a particular contribution to Australian society or government. In addition, all Australian citizens who were born in 1901 or earlier and lived until 1 January 2001 – known as ‘centenarians’ – have an entitlement to the award. We prepared the Letters Patent and regulations for the medal, serviced the Council for the Centenary Medal and prepared schedules of centenarians for submission to Government House.
Following the Government’s announcing the establishment of the Anniversary of National Service 1951–1972 Medal in 2001, to mark the contribution of national servicemen, the division prepared the necessary documentation to enable the medal to be put in place and its distribution to commence prior to Anzac Day 2002.
We provided secretariat services to public service honours committees as well as assistance to departmental staff who serve ex officio as members of the Council of the Order of Australia and the Australian Bravery Decorations Council.
The division provided support to the Prime Minister in relation to the nominations of non-Australian citizens for honorary awards in the Order of Australia. The division also assisted the Prime Minister in sending over 6,700 messages of congratulation to Australians celebrating significant wedding anniversaries and birthdays.
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia 2002
