Mr Kerr asked the Prime Minister, upon notice, on 8 May 1996:

(1) Did the Government take office having endorsed the multicultural principles and premises articulated in the (a) National agenda for multicultural Australia, announced by Prime Minister Hawke in July 1989, and (b) 1995 report of the National Multicultural Advisory Council entitled Multicultural Australia—The next steps.

(2) Does the Government maintain the position described in part (1); if not, (a) why not and (b) how has the Government's position changed.

(3) Did he transfer multicultural functions from his portfolio to the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolio; if so, (a) when was the transfer announced, (b) on what date did the transfer come into effect and (c) were the multicultural functions and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, including its structure, administrative costs, salary costs, program costs and agreed forward estimates for three years transferred in toto; if not, what adjustments have been made to the arrangements existing before the 1996 federal elections.

(4) Will the multicultural functions to be performed under the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolio, particularly those requiring whole-of-government coordination such as access and equity, productive diversity and multicultural public policy, be effected without duplication in central coordination agencies; if so, how.

(5) Is it a fact that the Minister responsible for administering the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolio is not a Cabinet Minister; if so, (a) how will this affect the development of a multicultural public policy for all residents of Australia and (b) is this a downgrading of the priority appropriate to this policy issue.

(6) Did he refer to the coordination of and responsibility for multicultural public policy in his charter letters to Ministers; if so, what (a) specific references were made and (b) multicultural public policy priorities were identified in the letters.

Mr Howard —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1)-(5) I announced the proposed transfer on 8 March 1996 and the Governor-General signed the Administrative Arrangements Order giving effect to it on 11 March 1996. The functions, staff and resources of the Office were transferred in toto for the remainder of 1995-96. Funding arrangements in respect of future years are to be considered as part of the 1996-97 Budget process. This in no sense represents a retreat from previous commitments. Indeed, the transfer has opened up new opportunities for furthering the multicultural agenda. New synergies will be created, better coordination of functions will result and there will be greater opportunities to share knowledge and expertise. There will be no duplication of work between my Department and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Multicultural affairs will benefit from the increased support available through the overall resources of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Although the Minister is not a Cabinet Minister he will, of course, be co-opted to attend Cabinet meetings when matters relating to his responsibilities are being considered.

(6) The issues raised in the charter letters are a matter between the Minister and me. I would, however, expect the Minister to have due regard for the importance of multicultural issues and ensure that they are a distinctive yet unifying force in Australia. As well, there are a range of initiatives to which the Government is committed. A Federal Access and Equity Strategy will be implemented, in cooperation with the States and Territories, and an Australian Council on Citizenship will be formed to undertake a comprehensive, independent review of citizenship.