RESOURCES, ENERGY AND TOURISM PORTFOLIO

In Attendance

Senator Ludwig, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism

Mr Drew Clarke, Secretary

Mr Martin Hoffman, Deputy Secretary

Corporate Services Division

Mr Greg Field, Head of Division

Mr Sam White, Chief Financial Officer

Mr Matthew Roper, Chief Legal Counsel

Outcome 1

Resources Division

Ms Tania Constable, Head of Division

Mr Richard Niven, Acting General Manager, Minerals Productivity Branch

Mr Michael Sheldrick, General Manager, Uranium, Taxation and Radioactive Waste Branch

Mr Nicholas Vazenios, Manager, Radioactive Waste Section, Uranium, Taxation and Radioactive Waste Branch

Mr Martin Squire, General Manager, Offshore Resources Branch

Ms Kathy Harman, General Manager, Strategy and Projects

Mr Graeme Waters, General Manager, National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator

Energy Division

Mr Brendan Morling, Head of Division

Mr Paul Johnson, General Manager, Energy Market Governance and Demand Side Policy Branch

Dr Gino Grassia, General Manager, Energy Security Branch

Dr Chris Locke, General Manager, Electricity and Gas Markets Branch

Mr Oliver Story, Manager, Demand Side Policy, Energy Market Governance and Demand Side Policy Branch

Ms Zoe Konovalov, Manager, Carbon Policy Mechanisms, Energy Market Governance and Demand Side Policy Branch

Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Division

Ms Margaret Sewell, Head of Division

Ms Helen Bennett, General Manager, Renewables and Environment Policy Branch

Mr Wayne Calder, General Manager, Low Emissions Coal and CO2 Storage Branch

Ms Louise Vickery, General Manager, Industrial Energy Efficiency Branch

Mr Dominic Zaal, Manager, Energy Efficiency Opportunities, Development and Evaluation

Mr Demus King, General Manager, International Branch

Australian Renewable Energy Agency

Mr Matthew James, Acting Chief Financial Officer

Tourism Division

Mr Nicholas Dowie, Acting Head of Division

Dr Leo Jago, Chief Economist and General Manager, Tourism Research Australia

Mr Tim Quinn, Manager, Strategic Research and Analysis, Tourism Research Australia

Mr Wayne Emery, Acting General Manager, Tourism Policy Branch

Ms Robyn Agnew, Acting General Manager, Tourism Programs Branch

Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics

Professor Quentin Grafton, Executive Director, Chief Economist

Geoscience Australia

Dr Chris Pigram, Chief Executive Officer

Dr Clinton Foster, Chief Scientist

Dr James Johnson, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief, Energy Division

Dr Andy Barnicoat, Chief, Minerals and Natural Hazards Division

Dr Stuart Minchin, Chief, Environmental Geoscience Division

Mr Tony Marks, General Manager, Corporate Branch

Mr Andrew Heap, Group Leader, Basin Resources, Energy Division

Tourism Australia

Mr Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director

Mr John Mackenney, Chief Financial Officer

Mr Tim Mahony, Manager, Government and Media Relations

Committee met at 0 9:00

CHAIR ( Senator Mark Bishop ): I declare open this public hearing of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. The Senate has referred to the committee the particulars of proposed additional expenditure for 2012-13 and related documents for the Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education; Resources, Energy and Tourism; and Treasury portfolios. The committee has set Friday 22 February as the date by which senators should submit written questions on notice and has set Friday 5 April as the day by which answers to questions on notice are to be returned.

Under standing order 26 the committee must take all evidence in public session. This includes answers to questions on notice. Officers and senators are familiar with the rules of the Senate governing estimates hearings. If you need assistance, the secretariat has copies of the rules. I particularly draw the attention of witnesses to an order of the Senate of 13 May 2009 specifying the process by which a claim of public interest immunity should be raised, which I now incorporate in Hansard.

The extract read as follows—

Public interest immunity claims

That the Senate—

(a) notes that ministers and officers have continued to refuse to provide information to Senate committees without properly raising claims of public interest immunity as required by past resolutions of the Senate;

(b) reaffirms the principles of past resolutions of the Senate by this order, to provide ministers and officers with guidance as to the proper process for raising public interest immunity claims and to consolidate those past resolutions of the Senate;

(c) orders that the following operate as an order of continuing effect:

(1) If:

(a) a Senate committee, or a senator in the course of proceedings of a committee, requests information or a document from a Commonwealth department or agency; and

(b) an officer of the department or agency to whom the request is directed believes that it may not be in the public interest to disclose the information or document to the committee, the officer shall state to the committee the ground on which the officer believes that it may not be in the public interest to disclose the information or document to the committee, and specify the harm to the public interest that could result from the disclosure of the information or document.

(2) If, after receiving the officer's statement under paragraph (1), the committee or the senator requests the officer to refer the question of the disclosure of the information or document to a responsible minister, the officer shall refer that question to the minister.

(3) If a minister, on a reference by an officer under paragraph (2), concludes that it would not be in the public interest to disclose the information or document to the committee, the minister shall provide to the committee a statement of the ground for that conclusion, specifying the harm to the public interest that could result from the disclosure of the information or document.

(4) A minister, in a statement under paragraph (3), shall indicate whether the harm to the public interest that could result from the disclosure of the information or document to the committee could result only from the publication of the information or document by the committee, or could result, equally or in part, from the disclosure of the information or document to the committee as in camera evidence.

(5) If, after considering a statement by a minister provided under paragraph (3), the committee concludes that the statement does not sufficiently justify the withholding of the information or document from the committee, the committee shall report the matter to the Senate.

(6) A decision by a committee not to report a matter to the Senate under paragraph (5) does not prevent a senator from raising the matter in the Senate in accordance with other procedures of the Senate.

(7) A statement that information or a document is not published, or is confidential, or consists of advice to, or internal deliberations of, government, in the absence of specification of the harm to the public interest that could result from the disclosure of the information or document, is not a statement that meets the requirements of paragraph (1) or (4).

(8) If a minister concludes that a statement under paragraph (3) should more appropriately be made by the head of an agency, by reason of the independence of that agency from ministerial direction or control, the minister shall inform the committee of that conclusion and the reason for that conclusion, and shall refer the matter to the head of the agency, who shall then be required to provide a statement in accordance with paragraph (3).

(Extract, Senate Standing Orders, pp 124-125)

I ask photographers and cameraman to follow the established media guidelines and instructions of the committee secretariat. Please ensure that Senators' and witnesses' laptops and personal papers are not filmed. I remind members of the public and everyone in the gallery that they are not permitted to interfere with the proceedings.