1.1(13) Services to diplomatic and consular representatives in Australia

Overview

The department provided high-quality visa, accreditation and other protocol services to diplomatic and consular staff from 102 missions resident in Canberra, 44 non-resident missions, 368 consular posts and 12 international organisations with offices throughout the country. In 2013–14, Australia hosted 3562 diplomatic and consular representatives from 162 countries. We received positive feedback from the diplomatic and consular corps on our engagement and service standards.

Although the size, diversity and geographic spread of the diplomatic and consular corps grew over the year, we continued to provide protocol services in a manner consistent with Australia’s obligations under the Vienna Conventions, which codify the rights and responsibilities of diplomatic and consular officials.

Services to the diplomatic and consular corps

We assisted with the establishment of Ethiopia’s new diplomatic mission, the non-resident diplomatic missions of Guyana, Mozambique and Niger, three new career consular posts and seven new honorary consular posts throughout Australia. We worked closely with Government House on the credentials ceremonies for 21 new resident and seven non-resident heads of mission. We expedited, with the Prime Minister’s Office, the introduction of one resident head of mission with whom we share the same head of state and, with the Foreign Minister’s Office, one regional representative of an international organisation.

The department supported the Government’s engagement with its key international partners by providing high quality advice and services to diplomatic missions on security, immigration, private domestic employment, airport facilitation, customs and quarantine, land and premises, taxation and motor vehicle ownership.

In fulfilment of our obligations to assist countries acquire suitable official premises, we liaised closely with the National Capital Authority on the management of the diplomatic estate. The department contributed to a new government policy on diplomatic leases which provided certainty for diplomatic missions on the calculation of annual rents and upfront premium payments.

The department continued to emphasise to diplomatic officials their obligations to respect Australian laws. We sought waivers of immunity of five diplomatic officials to assist the Australian Federal Police with witness statements in order to pursue allegations of criminal offences. Where necessary, we brought to the attention of heads of mission the poor traffic infringement records of individual diplomats.

We facilitated communication between law enforcement agencies and diplomatic missions to ensure timely consular advice and liaised closely with the corps following the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The department concluded a reciprocal bilateral arrangement with Romania on the employment of dependants of diplomatic officers, bringing the total number of arrangements managed by the department to 43. These agreements are complicated and can take years to conclude due to divergent expectations and legislative compliance issues.

We concluded new indirect tax concession packages, strictly on a reciprocal basis, with El Salvador, Paraguay and Qatar and agreed on an upgraded package with Israel. We brought our diplomatic concessions for duty-free tobacco into line with international practice by reducing the maximum permitted amounts for official and personal use.

See Table 7 for services statistics.

Staff Profile

Sridhar Ayyalaraju

Director, Protocol Branch, Canberra

Throughout my near 20-year career, I have cherished the unique experiences and diverse range of work that are possible in the department. This year was no different. I had the honour of serving as both our Consul-General in New Delhi and as our Deputy Chief of Protocol in Canberra. In between I was able to help select our 2015 corporate graduates.

Spending such a long time in one organisation is rare these days, but within the department I’ve enjoyed distinct careers as an internal auditor, accountant, lawyer, consul, manager and now in protocol, where I provide policy advice to foreign missions and other government agencies in accordance with Australia’s obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. I’ve also had the privilege of three very different postings to Buenos Aires, Hanoi and New Delhi.

The department’s work is exciting and complex. The most rewarding work I have been involved in has included negotiating treaties, hostage situations, appearing before Senate committees, working at multilateral conferences and negotiating with foreign governments. I’m also very proud to work with talented, professional and interesting colleagues, rolling up our sleeves together to achieve positive results for our country.

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Protection of diplomatic and consular missions

The department implemented Australia’s obligations under international law to protect the security and dignity of diplomatic and consular missions. We worked closely with the Australian Federal Police and the Attorney-General’s Department to ensure any issues raised by missions relating to physical security, protest activity, elections and foreign dignitary visits were appropriately addressed.

Engagement with the diplomatic and consular corps

The department organised a highly successful visit by 72 Canberra-based heads of mission to Western Australia from 1 to 3 May, led by Foreign Minister Bishop. The visit showcased the extensive trade, investment and tourism opportunities in Western Australia and included trips to BHP-Billiton, Woodside and Rio Tinto’s key resource projects in the Pilbara. The diplomats also attended the ‘In the Zone’ conference at the University of Western Australia addressed by the Premier and Ms Bishop, received briefings from federal ministers and state senior officials on Australia’s strategic and defence policies and Indian Ocean priorities, and visited indigenous rock engravings at the Burrup Peninsula. Feedback from the corps about the visit and the Minister’s engagement was overwhelmingly positive and was in addition to other informal comments about the international best-practice standard of our service delivery.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, accompanies Canberra-based heads of mission to Mt Whaleback mine, Newman, May 2014. [FMO/Catherine McDonald]

In December 2013, the Secretary welcomed over 600 government, business, NGO and academic stakeholders to the annual reception for the diplomatic corps. He acknowledged the strong contribution of the corps to enhancing bilateral foreign and trade relations and consular cooperation.

The department provided briefing and advice to the diplomatic corps on a range of issues, including Australia’s hosting of the G20, our UN Security Council membership, post-election machinery of government changes, quarantine management changes and the new Australian P-series passports. The corps was invited to events during International Women’s Week and National Reconciliation Week.

Outlook

The department will continue to provide best practice protocol services to the diplomatic and consular corps in Australia. Our emphasis on keeping the corps up to date on important issues for Australia, including the G20, will continue.

In line with our commitment to service excellence, we will review airport facilitation arrangements and the engagement of foreign private domestic workers. We will also pursue new or upgraded reciprocal indirect tax concession arrangements where doing so would be in the national interest.

The department will provide advice to other government agencies and diplomatic missions on dignitary protection and privileges and immunities associated with major events. These include the suite of G20 ministerial meetings, the G20 Leaders Summit, the Cricket World Cup and the Asian Football Cup.

* The rise in ‘visas issued for the corps’ reflected changes to DIBP’s visa system and included international relations, overseas missions and other visa types that were unable to be captured previously.

** The significant reduction in ‘requests processed by DFAT for foreign awards to Australian citizens’ was due to the implementation of new foreign awards guidelines. Under these guidelines, an Australian can accept such an award if it is listed on an approved schedule. Requests are therefore processed only for foreign awards not so listed. These, however, are submitted to Government House directly, rather than through the department. DFAT’s approval is required only for departmental officers.

Deputy Secretary Chris Moraitis (right) representing the Foreign Minister, with then Chief of Protocol, Sally Mansfield (second left), and Deputy Chief of Protocol, Melissa Hitchman (back left), presentation of credentials, US Ambassador to Australia, HE John Berry (third left), to Governor-General Quentin Bryce AC CVO (centre), with then Official Secretary to the Governor-General, Stephen Brady CVO (left), Mr Curtis Yee (third right) and Mr Michael Bryce AM AE (second right), supported by US Embassy staff and Aide-de-Camp (Navy) to the Governor-General, Canberra, 25 September 2013. [Andrew Taylor]