Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for the information he has provided. In his response, the minister adverted to a great deal of preparatory work having to be done for the bid and to a dedicated section in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade being established to pursue the bid. He also made reference to the costs being related to the time and effort of public servants. Can the minister advise whether this means that already scarce resources in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been diverted from elsewhere to address this bid? What particular areas of the department may suffer as a result of any redirection that may occur? How does the government expect the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, given the significant budget cuts in staffing and resources that it has endured, to manage a campaign of this size?