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Your location: Performance > Outcome 1 > Output 1.1 > Quality and quantity information

OUTPUT 1.1: Protection and advocacy of Australia’s international interests through the provision of policy advice to ministers and overseas diplomatic activity

Output 1.1 Quality and quantity information

Quality indicators

Quantity indicators

Provision of policy advice, analysis, speeches and briefings

The department received informal feedback on its performance through the daily contact of the Senior Executive with portfolio ministers, constant interaction between ministers' offices and departmental staff at all levels, and our support for ministers' international visits and their participation in international meetings. There is also regular interaction with the Prime Minister and non-portfolio ministers on foreign and trade policy issues.

Structured mechanisms for ministers to provide performance feedback include:

• the regular policy discussions ministers hold with the Secretary and members of the Senior Executive
• ministers' comments on the formal written advice—mainly in the form of submissions and briefings provided by the department
• the calls our heads of mission make on portfolio ministers at the commencement of, mid-way through, and sometimes also at the conclusion of their postings.

Ministers expressed general satisfaction with the level, intensity, diversity, alacrity, and effectiveness of the department's policy work.

The department provided secretariat support to the Foreign Affairs Council. The Council provides a mechanism through which distinguished Australians working in business, media and academia can share their expertise and views on a broad range of foreign policy issues with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We also provided secretariat support to the Trade Policy Advisory Council—see sub-output 1.1.6 for further information.

Ministerial submissions and briefings

The department produced 2051 written submissions and 3114 briefings during the reporting period. Portfolio ministers expressed broad satisfaction with the department's policy advice and analysis.

Ministerial correspondence

The preparation of replies to ministerial correspondence is an important means of responding to public interest in foreign and trade policy matters. Ministers allow one week for draft replies for ministerial signature and two weeks for departmental replies. The Senior Executive monitors the department's performance of this function closely.

We received and processed 12 990 letters in 2003–04, an increase of 1757 over the previous year. We responded within required timeframes to all letters received.

	Minister for Trade, Mr Mark Vaile, delivers a speech to the Trans Tasman Business Circle event held in Sydney in August 2003, marking the 20th Anniversary of the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement. Photo: Sam Shepherd.
	Enlarge image :: Photo gallery

Questions on notice

The department prepares written responses for ministers' consideration to Questions on Notice (QON) asked of ministers by members and senators, and to questions taken on notice during appearances by the department before parliamentary committees. The department prepared responses to over 400 QON during the reporting period.

Speeches

Speeches drafted by the departmental speechwriters, in consultation with ministers' offices and relevant areas of the department, were well received by ministers. We prepared 204 ministerial and senior executive speeches.

Protection and advancement of Australia's international interests

Ministers expressed satisfaction with the department's work in promoting Australia's interests. Following are some examples of feedback:

• the Prime Minister registered his appreciation for the efforts of the negotiating team for the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement and for the department's role in coordinating the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands
• Mr Downer thanked the department for its strong support in preparing for and following through on practical outcomes delivered at the Bali Regional Ministerial Meeting on Counter-Terrorism
• Mr Vaile was impressed by the department's support for Australian companies pursuing commercial opportunities in Iraq.

Capacity to respond to international developments

The reporting against effectiveness indicators earlier in this report provides instances of appropriately timed and scaled responses to international events with significant consequences for Australia. Some important examples include:

• in order to address deteriorating security and economic conditions in Solomon Islands the department coordinated the delivery of significantly strengthened assistance through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (see sub-output 1.1.3 for details)
• in order to ensure continued improvement in access to foreign markets for Australian exporters, we pursued ambitious policy objectives in several major trade negotiations concurrently: the World Trade Organization Doha Round negotiations; the negotiations for the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement; and the negotiations for the Thailand–Australia Free Trade Agreement (see sub-output 1.1.5 for details)
• in order to support the Government's efforts to counter international terrorism we expanded the number of Australia's counter-terrorism arrangements with regional governments and, with the Indonesian Government, arranged the Regional Ministerial Meeting on Counter-Terrorism in Bali in February 2004, which had a number of important outcomes (see sub-output 1.1.8 for details).

To maintain capacity to react to the unexpected—as distinct from the cultivation of corporate strengths in predicting, anticipating and shaping developments—the department ensured that its staff were trained in Emergency Call Unit procedures and Crisis Centre management. The department has a large number of staff who have been trained in crisis management and/or have worked in the Crisis Centre.

The department's Working Smarter policy—introduced in 2000—is an integral factor in our ability to respond quickly to unexpected developments while continuing to pursue a demanding policy workload. The Working Smarter principles define good staff as those who: show judgment in setting priorities; organise their own and subordinates' time thoughtfully and strategically; and maintain a good balance between work and private life. We ensured ongoing implementation of the principles with a range of supporting policies and guidelines, centralised staff and resource management, training courses, regular reinforcement and monitoring and through management meetings and post visits (see Section 3—Corporate Management and Accountability for further information).

Quantity information for output 1.1

Indicator	2003–04	2002–03
Scope and composition of the department-managed diplomatic network	See Appendix 13 (Summary of the overseas network)
Number of units of policy advice delivered:
Ministerial submissions	2 051	2 075
Cabinet submissions1	28	28
Ministerial correspondence	12 990	11 233
Speeches2	204	200
Briefings not under submission3	3 114	4 955
Cabinet briefings for ministers	92	95
Meeting briefs	352	307
Number of consultations conducted with other Commonwealth agencies, state and territory governments, and business and non-government organisations in the context of the department's development of foreign and trade policy advice4	34 803	30 778
Number of representations made to other governments and international organisations in support of Australia's international interests5	39 658	39 306
Number of international meetings or negotiations attended, including on behalf of other Commonwealth agencies6	13 214	14 542
Number of official programs prepared for portfolio ministers and senior officials7	792	839
Number of official programs prepared for the Prime Minister, other Commonwealth ministers and senior officials8	813	905
Number of reporting cables produced by our overseas posts	82 698	84 220
Number of occasions on which the department has contributed to the development of policies by other Commonwealth agencies9	5 271	5 293
Number of Foreign Affairs Council meetings organised10	1	2
Number of Trade Policy Advisory Council meetings organised	4	3

1 The department was the lead sponsor of 22 cabinet submissions and co-sponsor of 6.

2 Includes speaking notes for both ministers, the parliamentary secretaries and the Senior Executive.

3 This figure includes daily consular briefings for ministers and senior officials.

4 This number includes semi-formal consultations such as telephone conversations and email correspondence.

5 This information was collected by all areas of the department, including overseas posts, and collated centrally. The difficulty in defining what constitutes a representation, given our different operating environments overseas, means that this figure is necessarily an approximate one.

6 This figure includes meetings with non-government organisations and business representatives.

7 This figure includes programs prepared for senior officials (broadband 4 level and equivalent and above).

8 This figure includes programs prepared for senior officials (broadband 4 level and equivalent and above).

9 This figure includes formal contact between departments such as interdepartmental committee meetings in which staff provided significant input to the policies of other agencies.

10 Lists of members of the Foreign Affairs Council and Trade Policy Advisory Council can be found on the department's website at www.dfat.gov.au/fac and www.dfat.gov.au/trade/opening_doors/tpac.html.

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Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Annual Report 2003–2004
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