Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to order and at the request of the chairs of the respective committees, I present reports from the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee, the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee and the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee in respect of the 2011-12 additional estimates, together with the Hansard record of the committees' proceedings and documents received by committees.

Ordered that the reports be printed.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the reports.

I want to make some very brief remarks this afternoon about the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee's report on the 2011-12 additional estimates. I commend to the Senate the committee's unanimous report. I am sure the Senate would be aware that the F&PA Committee deals with the parliamentary departments and the portfolios of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Finance and Deregulation. This afternoon I will just focus some brief remarks on the Department of Parliamentary Services. At the additional estimates a range of important issues was examined by senators: the new Australian Parliament House website, IT and security systems, the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office, the retirement of the Secretary of DPS and the resignation of the Parliamentary Librarian, the protest on the parliamentary forecourt on 27 January, bullying in DPS and the scandal surrounding the sale of billiard tables by DPS. It is important to note that senators at those estimates hearings constrained their questioning of DPS because we had only a limited amount of time.

I remind the Senate, though, that in June last year the committee received a reference from the Senate for the committee to inquire into the performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services. Needless to say, this is an important and substantial inquiry. So far, the committee has received 23 public submissions and a similar number of confidential submissions. Let me assure the Senate that all members of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, from all political parties represented in this chamber, are treating that inquiry into the Department of Parliamentary Services very seriously. There is a strong interest from senators in a range of critical issues about the Department of Parliamentary Services, such as the adequacy of the current parliamentary oversight of the department and the relationship of DPS to the chamber departments, as well as the adequacy and effectiveness of the services provided by DPS.

There is real concern about the workplace culture of DPS, with a particular focus on allegations of bullying and concern about staff selection procedures. There is a real interest also in the committee about heritage issues and the management of Parliament House assets—furnishings, fixtures and significant heritage items that we have here in the building—and there are issues to be addressed about the leadership of the Department of Parliamentary Services and the department's administration, including the commercial and contractual arrangements that the department has entered into.

I do thank the Senate for providing me with this brief opportunity to assure the Senate, and those who might be interested in these matters outside the Senate, that these issues will receive close attention from all the members of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee as we progress our inquiry into the Department of Parliamentary Services in the months ahead and, of course, I can assure the Senate that our good work on estimates committees will continue.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will be brief in talking about the report of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee on the 2011-12 additional estimates. One area that I am keen to draw to the attention of the chamber is that confirmed in item 1.11 of the report. That was the move of higher education away from this committee to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee and the concern, as expressed by my colleague Senator Mason, that there was not sufficient time to be able to investigate and scrutinise the higher education elements in the Economics Legislation Committee as indeed there had been under the Employment, Education and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee.

I also draw attention to item 2.9 of the report—Timely supply of evidence. Responses to questions during the hearing uncovered the fact that erroneous information had been provided to the committee in answers to questions on notice. I am pleased to record that the chair emphasised that corrections to evidence must be presented to the committee not only in a timely manner but as quickly as is practicable for the benefit of members of the committee and the chamber.

I turn to the Office of the Building and Construction Commissioner. I note the report of the commissioner, Mr Johns, in which he advised the committee that since October 2005 the ABCC had litigated 90 matters and had been successful in 76 per cent of those matters, that being 84 per cent, and that in the last financial year alone the ABCC had finalised 15 matters and been successful in 13 of the 15, being in excess of 90 per cent.

In estimates the committee addressed the levels of confusion among many volunteer organisations, particularly as the Safe Work Australia and fair work provisions will apply to them. There was a robust discussion in this area and it is one that I think all senators need to be conscious of and concerned about. In the work that we do we all come into contact with the many hundreds of thousands of volunteers around Australia who provide their time and their labour, their expertise and their interest on a free-of-charge basis, and it would be very difficult to estimate the effect on the budget of the impact of volunteers. I think it behoves this chamber to ensure that, having regard for legislation, for safe work activities, for fair work et cetera, we do not in any way endanger the enthusiasm, the expertise or the contribution of volunteers in the role that they play in assisting the community. Subsequent to estimates I have had representations from emergency service volunteers in my state of Western Australia, particularly bushfire brigade members and the bushfires brigade volunteer organisation, which you, Acting Deputy President Marshall, would be aware I have a close affinity to. They are coming to the conclusion that they are almost becoming an unwanted species—unloved, if you will. Some of the conditions upon which they now must act are making it such that they are not enthusiastic about acting as volunteers. There are two types of volunteerism, of course. One is associated with improvements to community and the wellbeing of people. The other one is the essential service that is offered by volunteers in areas where it is impossible and uneconomical to replace those with paid services. So I urge that we remain vigilant to the needs of volunteers when we are considering this area.

There has been in this chamber—I do not intend to labour it—much discussion of the activities of Fair Work Australia, particularly its general manager, in terms of the presentation of the report into the Health Services Union Victoria. I believe that matter has now been resolved and that report, belated as it is, is before the chamber and in the public arena. One can only hope the precedent has now been created and, when the next and subsequent reports of Fair Work Australia are to hand, there will be no delay in actually making them public in the interests of all participants.

My final comments relate to ACARA. Subsequent to estimates I was disturbed to learn of allegations of some degree of bias by ACARA. The example given to me was in the last round of NAPLAN testing. I think it was year 7 or year 9 students. These students were asked to critically analyse a piece. The heading of the piece was 'From moo to roo'. I know my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry would be interested in this too. The text of the document basically was associated with the inappropriateness of cattle production in this country, the inappropriateness of cloven-hoofed animals in our environment and the question of whether there should be a move from cattle production to kangaroo production. This is what these students were asked to critique. The person who presented the piece to me complained to ACARA. They said to him: 'No, you've taken it the wrong way. This was just a piece upon which they were asked to give a critical analysis of bias.' The observation of this man—a principal with long experience in a school system—to them was, 'I don't think that when I was in year 7 or year 9 I had the capacity to critically analyse a document of that nature and comment on it from the point of view of bias.' I will be taking this matter up with ACARA, because the last thing I want to see from a body as important to the Australian education system as ACARA is for it to present to relatively young students a document which I would perceive to be inappropriate and ask those students to comment on it.

I commend the report under the signature of the Acting Deputy President in his capacity as chair of the legislation committee and thank the Senate for the opportunity to take note.

Question agreed to.