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Department of the House of Representatives Annual Report 2014–15 Part 1 Overviews 3 D EPARTMENT of the H OUSE of R EPRESENTATIVES ANNUAL REPORT 2 014 -15 © Commonwealth of Australia 2015 ISSN 0157-3233 (Print) ISSN 2201-1730 (Online) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia Licence. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au. Use of the Coat of Arms The terms under which the Coat of Arms can be used are detailed on the website of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/publication/commonwealth-coat-arms-information- and-guidelines. Produced by the Department of the House of Representatives Editing and indexing by Wilton Hanford Hanover Design by Lisa McDonald Printing by CanPrint Communications Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs in this report were taken by staff of the Department of the House of Representatives. Front cover image: House of Representatives staff in the Parliament House marble foyer. Photo: David Foote AUSPIC/DPS. The department welcomes your comments on this report. To make a comment, or to request more information, please contact: Serjeant-at-Arms Department of the House of Representatives Canberra ACT 2600 Telephone: +61 2 6277 4444 Facsimile: +61 2 6277 2006 Email: [email protected] Website: www.aph.gov.au/house Web address for report: www.aph.gov.au/house/ar14-15 ii About this report The Department of the House of Representatives provides services that allow the House to fulfil its role as a representative and legislative body of the Australian Parliament. This annual report details our activities during the 2014–15 financial year. The overviews section includes a report by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, David Elder, who is also the chief executive of our department. The departmental overview describes our purpose, role, organisational structure, and outcome and program structure. The performance section describes the main activities of our program components, and measures our performance against our targets during the year. The management and accountability section spells out our approach to corporate governance, the management of our people and assets, and our obligations under various laws. This section also provides an outlook on the next financial year. The financial statements show how we spent the money allocated to us by the parliament. The appendixes give detailed information about our work for the House, its committees and visitors, and about our publications and staffing. Finally, to aid in navigating and interpreting the report, there is a list of abbreviations and acronyms and an index. iv Contents Letter of transmittal iii Appendixes 113 About this report iv 1 Performance information 114 2 Staffing statistics 119 Part 1: Overviews 1 3 Members’ survey 2015 121 Clerk’s review 2 4 Business of the House and Federation Chamber 122 Departmental overview 5 5 Committee activity 124 Financial performance 8 6 Committee reports and inquiries 125 Part 2: Performance 9 7 Publications 135 Chamber and Federation Chamber 10 8 Outgoing parliamentary delegations 137 Community relations and awareness 21 9 Official incoming Committee services 26 parliamentary delegations 139 Inter-parliamentary relations 35 10 Other incoming Members’ services and parliamentary visits 140 corporate support 39 11 Parliamentary staff and other visits 141 Schools hospitality 45 12 Agency resource statement Part 3: Management and resources for outcome 142 and accountability 47 13 Contact directory 144 14 List of requirements 145 Corporate governance 48 External scrutiny 52 Abbreviations and acronyms 148 Management of people 54 Index 149 Management of financial resources 58 Outlook 60 Part 4: Financial statements 61 v Figures 1 Organisational structure at 30 June 2015 6 2 Outcome and program structure at 30 June 2015 7 3 Financial performance, 2010–11 to 2014–15 8 4 Government and private members’ business and business of the House (Chamber and Federation Chamber), 2011 to 2015 12 Tables 1 Performance summary, Chamber and Federation Chamber, 2010–11 to 2014–15 11 2 Questions in writing to ministers and answers to questions in writing, 2010–11 to 2014–15 12 3 Number of bills introduced in the House, and number of bills assented to, 2010–11 to 2014–15 14 4 Private members’ bills introduced and amendments moved (Chamber and Federation Chamber), 2010–11 to 2014–15 14 5 Petitions and signatories to petitions, 2010–11 to 2014–15 16 6 Committees supported by the Chamber and Federation Chamber component, 2014–15 17 7 Performance summary, Committee Office, 2011–12 to 2014–15 27 8 Committees of the Forty-fourth Parliament supported by the Committee Office, 2014–15 28 9 Students visiting Parliament House, by location and year, 2010–11 to 2014–15 45 10 Expenditure on training and development programs, 2013–14 and 2014–15 55 11 Average staff attendance at training courses, 2013–14 and 2014–15 56 12 Salary scales of staff covered by the 2012–15 enterprise agreement, at 1 December 2014 57 vi PART 1 OVERVIEWS Clerk’s review Departmental overview Financial performance The Clerk (foreground) and Deputy Clerk on duty at the Table in the House of Representatives Chamber. Photo: David Foote AUSPIC/DPS. Clerk’s review The 2014–15 reporting period spans the second year of the Forty-fourth Parliament. The mid-point of the three-year parliamentary cycle is traditionally a time of consolidation and hard work, during which the business of the House and its committees takes priority in the absence of the additional pressures associated with an election period. While the overall level of activity in the department did not quite reach the peak experienced in the years of minority government during the Forty-third Parliament, 2014–15 was still a busy year. In 2014–15, as in previous years, the department’s Committee Office provided invaluable support to the work of House and joint committees, which included several high-profile and sensitive inquiries. The Table Office and Chamber Research Office played pivotal roles in managing the legislative and deliberative functions of the House of Representatives and the Federation Chamber. The Office of the Serjeant-at-Arms provided essential services to members and staff and, significantly during 2014–15, worked closely with colleagues inside and outside Parliament House on security matters. The International and Parliamentary Relations Office and the Parliamentary Skills Centre, newly created in this reporting year, managed the parliament’s busy schedule of incoming and outgoing delegations and capacity-building activities. While accustomed to working in the public eye, it is notable that, in 2014–15, the department supported several high-profile events that attracted more than the usual level of publicity. In July 2014, the department was proud to support the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives on the occasion of an address by the Prime Minister of Japan, His Excellency Mr Shinzo Abe. In November 2014, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon David Cameron; the President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Mr Xi Jinping; and the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Mr Narendra Modi, addressed the House. In June 2015, Parliament House hosted a number of events connected with the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, many of which were widely reported in the media. These events were a great success and I commend the departmental staff involved for their highly professional support to the House. The department also played a role in the review and subsequent upgrading of security arrangements at Parliament House, including the process by which the Australian Federal Police assumed lead responsibility for the physical security of the building. The Executive and staff of the department noted with great sadness the events of 22 October 2014 at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, and echo the statements of condolence and support made in the House the following day by the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Such events remind us of the vulnerability of our institutions to security threats and that we share this vulnerability with other parliaments throughout the world. The department’s work during the reporting period was guided by its 2013–16 corporate plan. The plan sets out four priority areas: capability, leadership, skills and knowledge-sharing, and relationships and collaboration. 2 DEPARTMENT OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ANNUAL REPORT 2014–15 Capability 1 PART The department aims to be flexible and responsive in supporting the work of the parliament and its committees. In 2014–15, the need to embrace changing technology was an important OVERVIEWS capability challenge for the department. Major new ICT business systems were introduced in a number of areas of the department, including: the Table Offices Production System, which assists in creating, managing and publishing chamber documents both electronically and in hard copy the Venue Management System, which provides an online booking function for committee rooms in Parliament House and for visiting school groups taking part in parliamentary education activities the Shared Committee Information Database, which enables online lodgment of submissions to committee inquiries and assists in managing and publishing inquiry information. Such systems have brought efficiencies and productivity gains in the past, and the new systems will too. We are also endeavouring to respond to the call for much greater electronic delivery of our products and services and that, inevitably, changes the way we work. It is important that the department develop and maintain the capacity to meet the changing needs and expectations of members and other stakeholders. In last year’s annual report, I noted that significant resources had been devoted to introducing the large number of new members to the work of the House and its committees.
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