You are here:

• Home
• Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO)
• Annual reports
• Annual Report 2011-2012
• Section 5 - Management and Accountability

Management and Accountability

Corporate Governance

Portfolio Minister

Responsibility for administration of the legislation under which ASNO operates – the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987, Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994 and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Act 1998 – rests with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Bob Carr.

Director General ASNO

The Director General ASNO reports directly to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The position combines the statutory offices of the:

• Director of the national authority for nuclear safeguards (formerly Director of Safeguards), as established by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987
• Director of the national authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention, as established by the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994
• Director of the national authority for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, as established by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Act 1998.

The Director General ASNO is a statutory position, appointed by the Governor-General. Remuneration for this position is determined by the Remuneration Tribunal.

Dr Robert Floyd was appointed as the Director General ASNO on 29 November 2010 for a period of five years.

Assistant Secretary ASNO

The Assistant Secretary ASNO deputises for the Director General and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the office. Dr John Kalish has held this position since April 2010.

ASNO Staff

ASNO has a small core of staff whose day-to-day activities are overseen by the Director General. ASNO staff are employed under the Public Service Act 1999 as a division within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). ASNO staff, other than the Director General, are also employed under the DFAT Enterprise Agreement. Further details can be found in Table 13 and the DFAT Annual Report 2011–12.

In 2011–12, ASNO achieved an average staff level of 16 (against an approved level of 17.5).

From 1 July 2011, ASNO implemented a revised organisational structure in order to best draw upon the expertise of ASNO staff and promote efficiencies across thematic work areas. The revised organisational structure is closely aligned with ASNO's outputs and can be found in Figure 7.

Figure 7: ASNO's Organisational Structure – (AS AT 30 jUNE 2012)

Table 13: ASNO Staff at 30 June 2012

	Male	Female	Total (Approved)
SES B2	1	0	1 (1)
SES B1	1	0	1 (1)
Executive Level 2	3	2	5 (6)
Executive Level 1	2	1	3 (3)
APS Level 6	1	2	3 (3.5)
APS Level 5	1	2	3 (3)
TOTAL	9	7	16 (17.5)

Training and Development

ASNO's primary training requirements are professional development of specialist skills. ASNO is proactive in managing this training, in part through a schedule of conference programs. Further details are in Table 14.

Table 14: Training and Development Activities during 2011–12

Training and Development Activity	Person Days
Formal DFAT courses	34
Structured work unit & on-the-job training including planning days	19
Seminars, workshops, conferences, overseas negotiations & IDCs	32
External formal courses	37
Academic study	16
Other (IAEA Consultancy)	16
TOTAL	154

Financial Management

The Audit Act 2001 requires ASNO to submit an annual Financial Statement to the Auditor-General. As ASNO is funded as a division of DFAT, this financial statement is published in the DFAT Annual Report. Further details of ASNO activities relating to financial management and performance are also contained in the DFAT Annual Report.

Administrative Budget

Table 15: ASNO Administrative Costs[31]

		2010–11	2011–12
Salaries[32]		$2 229 456	$2 329 703
Running Costs	General	$502 885	$753 469
	Seismic monitoring[33]	$590 337	$595 945
	Nuclear & radiological security enhancement for Asia and the Pacific	$259 901	0
	Sub-Total	$1 353 123	$1 349 414
TOTAL		$3 582 579	$3 679 117

Uranium Producers Charge

ASNO is responsible for the implementation of the Uranium Producers Charge. This charge is payable to Consolidated Revenue on each kilogram of uranium ore concentrate production (set in 2010–11 to 10.3077 cents per kilogram). The total charge levied on 1 December 2011 for uranium production in 2010–11 was $616,757.

Australian Safeguards Support Program

The cost of the Australian Safeguards Support Program (ASSP) totalled approximately $362,000 in 2011–12. This amount included approximately $76,000 of direct expenditure by ASNO relating to services provided to the IAEA[34], including participation in the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation, and a consultancy fee to Geoscience Australia for its work on the ASSP project on updating the IAEA's fuel cycle manual on mining and milling of uranium. Expenditure on ASSP projects by ANSTO amounted to approximately $210,000[35]. The University of Western Australia has invested considerable capital expenditure for the Network of Analytical Laboratories qualification process, including the refurbishment of a sample preparation and storage room dedicated to IAEA Network of Analytical Laboratories purposes, instrument time and staff costs totalling around $60,000. Other Australian Government agencies contributed services in support of the IAEA through the ASSP valued at approximately $16,000.

---

[31] Excludes GST.

[32] Includes Long Service Leave accruals.

[33] Undertaken by Geoscience Australia.

[34] The expenditure figure for ASNO does not include salaries.

[35] The significant increase in ANSTO's expenditure between financial years 2010–11 and 2011–12 is due to two factors: ANSTO's methodology for calculating expenditure now captures all costs not just operational costs; and the work towards characterisation of trace elements in Australian uranium ore concentrates straddled 2010–11 and 2011–12 so not all costs were captured in the figures quoted for 2010–11.