DFAT Annual Report 2002-2003 : Appendix 6 Inquiries by parliamentary committees

Inquiries by parliamentary committees

The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee reported on the department’s proposed expenditure (Estimates Reports) on 19 March 2003 (Additional Estimates) and 19 June 2003 (Budget Estimates), and tabled its Scrutiny of Annual Reports No. 2 of 2002 on 18 September 2002 and Scrutiny of Annual Reports No. 1 of 2003 on 20 March 2003.

During the review period, the department made submissions or gave evidence to seventeen parliamentary committee inquiries, as follows:

Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Annual review of Australia’s relations with the United Nations, on 2 July 2002
Scrutiny of the World Trade Organisation, 23 August 2002
Review of the Annual Report, on 5 February and 3 March 2003
Inquiry by the Trade Sub-Committee into Expanding Australia’s Trade and Investment relationship with the countries of Central Europe, on 18 February 2003
Inquiry by the Defence Sub-Committee into the Role of Maritime Strategy in Australia’s Defence Policy, on 26 February 2003
Inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee into Building Australia’s Relations with Indonesia, on 11 November 2002 and 1 May 2003
Inquiry by the Human Rights Sub-Committee into Human Rights and Good Governance Education in the Asia Pacific Region, on 12 May 2003

Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee

Inquiry into Australia’s relations with Papua New Guinea and the island states of the south-west Pacific, on 25 October 2002 and 15 May 2003
Inquiry into the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, on 11 April 2003
Inquiry into Security Threats to Australians in South East Asia, on 20 June 2003

Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee

Inquiry into the Migration Legislation Amendment (Further Border Protection Measures) Bill 2002, on 19 August 2002
Inquiry into Customs Legislation Amendment Bill, on 19 March 2003

Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters

Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2001 Federal Election, on 2 December 2002

House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services

Inquiry into Commercial Regional Aviation Services in Australia and Alternative Transport Links to Major Populated Islands, on 4 November 2002

Joint Committee on Public Works

Construction of a new Chancery building for the Australian High Commission, Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 19 June 2003

Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit

Inquiry into the Management and Integrity of Electronic Information in the Commonwealth, on 18 December 2002

Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration

Recruitment and Training in the Australian Public Service, on 14 August 2002.

Joint Standing Committee on Treaties

Departmental officers also appeared before the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in respect of the proposed treaty actions shown below, with the date of the hearings and the number of the Committee’s Report where available.

Treaties Report no. 48 reviewed treaties tabled on 27 August and 17 September 2002. The department appeared on 16 and 23 September 2002 in respect of:
— The Agreement with New Zealand relating to Air Services (done at Auckland on 8 August 2002)
— The Treaty with the Hellenic Republic on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (done at Athens on 4 July 2002)
— An Amendment to the Limitation Amounts in the Protocol of 1992 to amend the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (1969)
— An Amendment to the Limits of Compensation in the Protocol of 1992 to amend the International convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (1971)
— Amendments to the schedule for the International Whaling Convention
— Agreement with the United States concerning Security Measures for the Reciprocal Protection of Classified Information, done at Canberra on 25 June 2002
— An Amendment to the Double Taxation Agreement with Canada
— An Amendment to the Double Taxation Agreement with Malaysia.
Treaties Report no. 49 reviewed treaties tabled on 25 June 2002. The department appeared on 12 July, 8 October and 14 October 2002 in respect of:
— The Timor Sea Treaty
— Exchange of Notes concerning Agreement with the Democratic Republic of East Timor concerning an arrangement for exploration and exploitation of petroleum in an area of the Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor.
Treaties Report no. 50 reviewed treaties tabled on 15 October 2002. The department appeared on 21 October in respect of:
— Exchange of Letters, done at Hanoi on 1 November 2000 and Canberra on 5 August 2002, constituting an Agreement to amend the Agreement with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, done at Hanoi on 13 April 1992, as amended by an Exchange of Letters done at Canberra on 22 November 1996
— An Exchange of Letters with the Republic of Ireland constituting an Agreement to Amend the 1997 Agreement on Medical Treatment for Temporary Visitors, done at Canberra on 30 July 2002
— Third Agreement to extend the 1987 Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology, done at Vienna, on 1 October 2001.
Treaties Report no. 51 reviewed treaties tabled on 12 November and 3 December 2002. The department appeared on 9 December 2002 in respect of:
— Amendments done at Bonn, Germany on 24 September 2002, to Appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals done at Bonn on 23 June 1979
— Amendment, done at Cambridge, United Kingdom on 14 October 2002, to the schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, done at Washington on 2 December 1946
— International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Rome, 3 November 2001)
— Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, done at Vienna on 5 September 1997.
Treaties Report no. 52 reviewed treaties tabled on 4 March 2003. The department appeared on 24 March and 16 June 2003 in respect of:
— Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement, done at Singapore on 17 February 2003, and Associated Exchange of Notes
— International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, done at London on 18 October 2001
— Annex IV: Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Ships (revised) of the Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended (MARPOL 73/78), done at London, 17 February 1978, revised text adopted at London, 13 March 2000
— Amendments, done at Santiago, in November 2002, to Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, of March 1973.
The department also appeared on 16 and 23 June in respect of the following treaties tabled on 14 May and 17 June 2003:
— Agreement with the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for the Promotion and Protection of Investments, done at Canberra on 12 November 2002
— Agreement with the Kingdom of Belgium on Social Security, done at Canberra on 20 November 2002
— Agreement with the Republic of Chile on Social Security, done at Canberra on 25 March 2003
— Agreement with the Republic of Slovenia on Social Security, done at Vienna on 19 December 2002
— International Labour Organisation Conventions (proposed denunciations)
: No. 83: Labour Standards (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947
: No. 85: Labour Inspectorates (Non–Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947
: No. 86: Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1947
— Amendments to the Annex to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, including consideration and adoption of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, done at London on 12 December 2002
— Agreement with the Kingdom of Norway on Medical Treatment for Temporary Visitors, done at Canberra on 28 March 2003
— Exchange of Notes, done at Canberra on 7 April—27 May 2003, amending the Agreement with the United States of America for the Financing of Certain Educational and Cultural Exchange Programmes, done at Canberra on 28 August 1964 (amendment to the Fulbright Agreement)
— Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, done at Honolulu on 5 September 2000
— Agreement with the Government of the Democratic Republic of East Timor relating to the Unitisation of the Sunrise and Troubadour Fields, done at Dili on 6 March 2003.

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