The services to Parliament, the media and the public sub-program coordinated advice from the Department to portfolio Ministers on issues related to the working of Parliament, provided detailed information to the Parliament on Australian foreign and trade policy and developments in international relations. The Department maintained active liaison with the national and international media to promote an enhanced public understanding of Australian foreign and trade policy.
In the area of parliamentary liaison the services provided included:
coordination of briefing for parliamentary question time for portfolio Ministers;
coordination for portfolio Ministers of answers to parliamentary questions on notice;
provision of assistance with briefing and other arrangements for Parliamentarians (as individuals or members of delegations) for overseas visits and for certain overseas visits to Parliament;
assistance to parliamentary committees, particularly the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade; and the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.
In the media field services included:
preparation and distribution of media releases by Ministers and the Department;
provision of information, background guidance and briefing to the media;
consultation with commentators and editorial writers;
provision of radio and television interviews on subjects of public interest.
Services to the public included:
provision of material for Ministers’ speeches and public addresses;
responses to general inquiries on foreign and trade policy issues;
presentations to school groups;
meeting requests for public speakers on areas of departmental expertise;
the coordination and processing of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
Parliamentary liaison
The sub-program coordinated briefing to portfolio Ministers on issues thought likely to generate questions in Parliament. In the three sessions of Parliament in the period under review, portfolio Ministers or their representatives were asked a total of 211 questions of portfolio interest (134 to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 61 to the Minister for Trade and 17 to the Minister for Development Cooperation and Pacific Island Affairs), compared to a total of 107 questions in the two parliamentary sessions in 1992-93 . Answers to 148 questions on notice were prepared in 1993-94, compared to 74 in 1992-93.
During the year the sub-program coordinated briefing, programs and other assistance by the Department and overseas posts to nine official outgoing parliamentary delegations, five other delegations or groups of parliamentarians and approximately 60 individual federal parliamentarians travelling overseas. Support was also provided for visits to the Parliament by overseas delegations and individual parliamentarians. In September 1993 the 90th Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference was held in Canberra and attended by over 100 international parliamentary delegations. The sub-program coordinated Departmental briefing for the Australian delegation, assisted overseas posts with liaison arrangements for incoming delegations and administered the provision of departmental liaison officers to visiting delegations. The parliamentary liaison officer of the branch was attached to the Australian delegation as an adviser for the duration of the conference. The parliamentary liaison officer also accompanied the delegation as an adviser to the 91st IPU Conference in Paris in March 1994.
The sub-program coordinated departmental submissions to, and appearances before, parliamentary committees (see appendices for details). The sub-program also coordinated 13 briefings to the JCFADT by the Department on a range of international issues and coordinated the provision of written briefing in response to over 250 requests from the Parliament during the year.
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information (FoI) Sub-Section finalised 48 requests, the same number as in 1992- 93. It also handled 109 formal consultations (compared with 107 in 1992-93) with other agencies seeking the Department’s view on the release of documents dealing with Australia’s international relations.
Fees and charges levied in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (Fees and Charges Regulations) amounted to $3549, compared with $4417 in 1992-93.
The Department also met its obligations under sections 8 and 9 of the FoI Act. The section 8 statement is in the appendices of this report.
Privacy
Close consultation was maintained with the office of the Privacy Commissioner in relation to the storage and handling of personal information within the Department and its transfer to and from other agencies.
Media liaison
During the year the Department conducted 20 background briefings for the media on issues or events of major significance. Media strategies and briefing kits were prepared on the Cairns Group, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Uruguay Round and APEC. Specialised briefings were arranged to coincide with the release of the East Asia Analytical Unit reports. More than 90 ministerial speeches were distributed and 481 ministerial and departmental press releases were issued. A 24-hour contact service provided a prompt and accurate source for the media to confirm international developments or seek additional information as issues came to hand. Departmental spokespersons regularly responded to requests for radio interviews and a lesser number of television interviews, particularly on high-profile consular cases and issues such as the Los Angeles earthquake.
In order to ensure that Ministers’ offices, relevant areas of the Department and overseas posts were comprehensively informed of issues affecting the portfolio, 330 media round-ups and electronic news summaries and approximately 400 transcripts of radio and television interviews were produced and distributed. More than 9000 videos containing programs recorded by the Department from Australian television channels (in accordance with copyright provisions) were circulated to overseas missions.
The sub-program participated in organising the Department’s inaugural National Trade and Investment Outlook Conference (NTIOC) held in November. The conference was attended by more than 900 people, including 82 media representatives, and drew together prominent business, industry and government representatives from Australia and abroad. The conference received wide coverage in the overseas print media and met its objectives of providing networking opportunities for Australian business and instilling an export culture.
This sub-program also contributed to domestic promotion and media briefings related to Australia Today Indonesia ’94 in Jakarta.