Mr Martin Ferguson asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, upon notice, on 20 August 2002:

(1) How many (a) full time permanent staff, (b) part time permanent staff, (c) full time contract staff and (d) part time contract staff were employed by (i) the Minister's Department and (ii) agencies within the Minister's portfolio as at (A) 30 March 1996 and (B) 30 June 2002.

(2) For each category of engagement referred to in part (1) and employed by (a) the Minister's Department and (b) agencies within the Minister's portfolio, where were such persons located in (i) 30 March 1996 and (ii) 30 June 2002.

Mr Truss (Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

The information sought in relation to part (1)(A) and part (2)(i) of his question is not readily available and I am not prepared to authorise the use of the resources that would be required to provide that information. I am able to inform the honourable member, however, that data on Australian Public Service staffing as at 30 June 1996 is contained in the Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 1995-1996, which is publicly available.

The honourable member should be aware, however, that changes in APS functions and administrative arrangements between 1996 and 2002 may render direct comparisons between the data for those years invalid.

In relation to the answers provided:

- `contract staff' is taken to mean `non-ongoing staff';

- `full time permanent staff' is taken to mean `ongoing, full time staff';

- `part time permanent staff' is taken to mean `ongoing, part time staff';

- `full time contract staff' is taken to mean `non-ongoing, full time staff'; and

- `part time contract staff' is taken to mean `non-ongoing, part time staff'.

In answer to parts (1)(B) and (2)(ii):

- Table 1 shows the number of staff in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (AFFA) on 30 June 2002; and

- Table 2 shows the number of staff in portfolio Commonwealth Authorities, as defined in section 7 of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997, on 30 June 2002.

Table 1

Note: These figures include staff on the AFFA payroll system working in the areas of Plant Breeders Rights Advisory Committee, National Residue Survey, Australian Plague Locust Commission, National Rural Advisory Council, Australian Landcare Council and the Dairy Adjustment Authority.

Table 2

In addition to the above, the Dairy Adjustment Authority office in Melbourne had 19 employees at 30 June 2002. That number comprised 9 full-time ongoing and 1 part time ongoing staff seconded from the Australian Dairy Corporation (ADC) as well as 10 full-time non-ongoing staff. There were also two permanent full time staff in Canberra, who were full-time ongoing staff of AFFA and are therefore included in the first table.