Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is true. If you go to other areas it is counterbalanced; overall the numbers have not changed dramatically because of the Shanghai initiatives. There are a large number of people going to promote world expos, I understand, in Shanghai. That is in terms of overall departmental numbers but what about in terms of the critical areas? And what have we heard since then? In all of these areas that are identified in outcome 1 we have heard of these major initiatives to create the European Union in the Asia-Pacific and to set up a commission for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. All of these initiatives—to pursue the UN Security Council seat—presumably require very significant resources. I am very keen to know the detail of all of these initiatives, what work is going in, what staff levels are required. There is no answer given to that. I am sorry, Parliamentary Secretary, but the answer is totally inadequate in that sense. The government need to advise—the opposition needs to know on behalf of the community—how in fact all of these things can be delivered when you are cutting 305 staff out of outcome 1, and when there is no detail as yet on a whole raft of critical initiatives.

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