CHAIR —I call the committee to order and welcome Mr Hazell and officers from the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General. The committee will now examine outcome 1. Mr Hazell, do you have an opening statement you would like to make?

Mr Hazell —No thanks.

Senator FAULKNER —Mr Hazell, can you tell us about how the baton change is going in terms of the administration of the office which you have primary responsibility for?

Mr Hazell —The best way to describe it is: very smoothly. As you would know, the last time we spoke to you as a committee, Sir Guy Green was the administrator. Then the baton changed, as you say, to Major General Jeffrey in August. That change proceeded quite smoothly. The activities of the Governor-General continue. The office ticks away. As I said, I describe it in one word as smooth.

Senator FAULKNER —I noticed in the annual report that the costs for Mr Andy Reynolds were $10,500.

Mr Hazell —That is right.

Senator FAULKNER —Is it fair to say that that was for media advice?

Mr Hazell —That is true. You will recall that at the last estimates hearing I mentioned that shortly before that Andrew Reynolds had taken his leave from the office and was employed privately by Dr Hollingworth. There is really nothing further. The only thing I can tell the committee is that the final estimate was slightly cheaper than what the committee was told last time. As opposed to $11,000 and something, it came down to the figure that you just mentioned.

Senator FAULKNER —That is right; it was $10,500 as reported in the annual report.

Mr Hazell —That is right.

Senator FAULKNER —Has handling of public relations issues pretty well returned to what goes for normal out there at Government House?

Mr Hazell —That is a difficult question to answer totally, Senator, because from time to time things come up. I think it is true to say that the number of queries and questions we get have receded quite dramatically. We still get the odd question from the press and from the media but nothing like that—

Senator FAULKNER —You will be handling those in-house now?

Mr Hazell —We are. I have yet to appoint somebody to take on that role in a more permanent way but that is being handled in-house.

Senator FAULKNER —What relocation and other expenses have there been as a result of Dr Hollingworth's resignation?

Mr Hazell —Do you mean in terms of Dr Hollingworth himself?

Senator FAULKNER —Yes.

Mr Hazell —That is a matter that is more properly addressed to Prime Minister and Cabinet, Senator. They have the responsibility of looking after former Governors-General but, as you would know, Dr Hollingworth and his wife relocated to Melbourne and they are now living there. Expenses associated with that are not the province of—

Senator FAULKNER —I appreciate that but I wondered if there were any expenses that had been borne by the Office of the Governor-General. Or it has all been borne by Prime Minister and Cabinet, as far as you are aware?

Mr Hazell —Yes, that is right.

Senator FAULKNER —That would also be true in relation to Sir Guy Green, I assume?

Mr Hazell —In terms of relocation there was really nothing. When he finished his term he just moved back as Governor of Tasmania.

Senator FAULKNER —Sure, but he had physically moved into Yarralumla.

Mr Hazell —Yes. You said he had physically moved; he had moved some of his belongings there but that was a relatively temporary affair and they moved back to Hobart, quite simply.

Senator FAULKNER —We have also spoken previously about the office at, I think, 101 Collins Street in Melbourne—it might have been 90 Collins Street, Melbourne—that Dr Hollingworth had. Are you aware of this? I think I have the right address.

Mr Hazell —That is not our responsibility. Again, that is the responsibility of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Senator FAULKNER —I appreciate that. Are you aware of whether that is still being used? I thought you might be able to answer that because I assume from time to time staff would be present if it was.

Mr Hazell —I am only aware that Dr Hollingworth has an office there because sometimes we need to forward mail to that address. That is all.

Senator FAULKNER —So there is no involvement at all by the office of the official secretary in relation to that, apart from the forwarding of mail? It is limited to that?

Mr Hazell —That is quite right. As I said before, matters to do with former Governors-General are handled entirely by Prime Minister and Cabinet. That is where it stands.

Senator FAULKNER —Have there been any administrative changes as a result of Major General Jeffery becoming Governor-General—any changes to the way your office works at all that have been instigated by the new Governor-General that you are able to report to the committee?

Mr Hazell —I think the answer to that is no. Certainly, if there were any changes that have been made, they would not have been made as a result of anything that I would have done. As you would know, I have only been there a short while. To answer your question succinctly, no.

Senator FAULKNER —Are there any plans for physical changes at either Yarralumla or Admiralty House that you are aware of?

Mr Hazell —There have been no capital works other than the routine maintenance things done on either of the residences.

Senator FAULKNER —So there are no plans in the pipeline there?

Mr Hazell —We have a strategic plan whereby we do the ongoing things and those things have been canvassed previously, but nothing exceptional, no.

Senator FAULKNER —What do you mean by `exceptional'—it is all unexceptional?

Mr Hazell —Absolutely. There is a requirement on us, clearly, to look after the building fabric and that sort of thing, but I think I am right in saying that there is nothing. I have reported in the annual report that we are proposing to do some works vis-a-vis the Honours Secretariat but, again, that is part of the strategic plan.

Senator FAULKNER —The President of the United States, Mr Bush, paid a flying visit to Government House, I understand?

Mr Hazell —That is right.

Senator FAULKNER —It was only a flying visit, wasn't it?

Mr Hazell —It was relatively short, but it was nevertheless important.

Senator FAULKNER —When you say `relatively short', I read in a newspaper article that it was 19 minutes in duration—would that the right? That certainly fits the definition of `relatively short'.

Mr Hazell —It was of that ilk.

Senator FAULKNER —It was of that ilk, I see. For the 19 minutes the President was through the front gates there, what actually did he do and what did the Governor-General do?

Mr Hazell —As is consistent with calls by all heads of state, they are greeted and they have a private discussion.

Senator FAULKNER —A very brief one.

Mr Hazell —Yes, there were some photographs taken and there was a discussion that took place between the Governor-General and the President.

Senator FAULKNER —Was there a significant security crackdown at Yarralumla for this 19-minute visit?

Mr Hazell —Certainly from the Government House perspective we liaised closely with the government security agencies. I would not say that there was a crackdown. Government House is a reasonably secure site. Normal measures were in train. The visitors had their own security team, of course, but we liaised closely with the Australian government authorities. There was nothing additional from our point of view that we did.

Senator FAULKNER —Not from your point of view, but there was obviously a pretty significant security detail there, wasn't there? There were barricades at the gates and all that sort of thing, weren't there?

Mr Hazell —No, as you know, the gates are the gates and they open and they shut and that is it. No, there were no barricades or anything like that.

Senator FAULKNER —There were plenty of choppers flying overhead and all that sort of thing?

Mr Hazell —I think they were part of the Canberra-wide visit.

Senator FAULKNER —Sure. I am not suggesting there were any expenses borne for this by your office, and I assume that there were not. That is correct, isn't it?

Mr Hazell —That is quite right.

Senator FAULKNER —Is it true that you had lots of police and security officers combing the grounds there and making sure that the President was in a kangaroo-free zone? You would have read the article in the newspaper that suggested that?

Mr Hazell —I did, with some amusement, Senator.

Senator FAULKNER —Do you think it was intended as a humorous piece?

Mr Hazell —I think the kangaroos would be more surprised than anybody. They were certainly nowhere to be seen. I think they decided to hightail out of it.

Senator FAULKNER —Was there any attempt to remove the wildlife, or do anything with the wildlife at all?

Mr Hazell —No.

Senator FAULKNER —So is it fair to describe this as a security measure? I accept that there would obviously be security measures wherever the President went. That stands to reason and I am not critical of it. I wondered to what extent there was a significant security crackdown for this very brief visit.

Mr Hazell —The best way to describe it is that the security measures that were in place were adequate. There has been some hyperbole engaged in. I would like to leave it by making the point that the measures that were taken were adequate.

Senator FAULKNER —Where did this story about the kangaroo free zone emanate, just out of interest? You do not know?

Mr Hazell —Someone's fertile imagination, I expect.

Senator FAULKNER —Your office was not approached as to the background of that?

Mr Hazell —If they were, I am not aware of it.

Senator MURRAY —Mr Hazell, I had some discourse with your group of officers—I cannot remember whether you were in the group—previously and with the archives agency on the question of how Governor-Generals' correspondence is dealt with. It seemed to me from the answer I got that perhaps it was necessarily grey and fairly loose. Has the new Governor-General been given a more precise briefing as to how his correspondence and papers are to be dealt with for the purpose of posterity—namely, those that are personal and those which are official?

Mr Hazell —We have discussed in very broad terms the handling of correspondence, Senator. It is along the lines that I mentioned to you previously. It is often very hard from the point of view of a Governor-General to split off the issues when people write in, as they do. The issues are intertwined. As I tried to explain last time, it is often quite difficult to see a clear demarcation between the two. There clearly are some matters that Major General Jeffery has brought with him in a very private capacity and those are handled privately. I have very little if anything to do with those and neither does the office. The vast majority of the correspondence that comes into the office is of an official nature and that is the way it is handled. I have not set down any rigid office procedures because I have found that they do not always fit every particular situation. This is not usually a big problem for us. I prefer to deal with these things on a case by case basis.

Senator MURRAY —My own experience in the broader field and from the answers I have had is that ministers and public figures generally are not well briefed on the issue of archives: what is personal and what is public, and what is necessary to be kept from a historical and political perspective. The past Governor-General obviously had some particular issues which made his correspondence of great interest to future historians. What was archived would be important from that particular perspective but I think the point applies for any Governor-General. I wondered whether in your opinion, given you must give a necessarily discreet answer, the archiving environment and understanding had been lifted subsequent to Dr Hollingworth's tenure?

Mr Hazell —I would not have put it in a direct causal relationship like that. Clearly we are always conscious of the need to preserve as official records those records which are official and which will need to be accessed by later generations et cetera. Clearly, when matters become very personal and include personal correspondence, they remain as such. We are conscious of the need to do that. We have ongoing discussions with the various agencies concerned to make sure that we are across what needs to be done but, other than that, I do not think I would want to place it any higher than that.

Senator MURRAY —My final question relates to Dr Hollingworth's tenure. Have your office experienced any inquiries or calls for papers from a discovery perspective? You know what I mean by that: from a legal point of view.

Mr Hazell —I am not aware of any, no.

CHAIR —There being no other questions, thank you for your assistance, Mr Hazell and other officers. I now call the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

[7.52 p.m.]