Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The issue is one of a number of issues handled by the Ambassador for People Smuggling and the People Smuggling, Refugees and Immigration section in DFAT.

(2) Departmental officials do not record the time spent working on individual projects.

(3) The department does not separately record the cost of contributing to the development and promotion of the East Timor regional assessment centre proposal.

(4) Departmental officials in Canberra and overseas have made a large number of representations to regional governments on this proposal, including in the course of discussions on other issues. No log is kept of the number and dates of representations.

(5) Three, and no.