Ms Gillard asked the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, upon notice, on 19 August 2002:

(1) How many departmental case officers were employed assessing applications from asylum seekers in each year from 1990 to 2001, inclusive.

(2) How many applications were assessed in each year.

(3) What was the country of origin of applicants, detailed for each year.

(4) On average, how long did each case take to be assessed.

(5) Can part (4) be broken down by country of origin; if so, what are the details for each year.

Mr Ruddock (Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Reconciliation) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1) Case ManagersTable A

Changes to Departmental structure, refugee processing arrangements and reporting systems over time make it difficult to accurately provide the staffing figure requested for the years 1990-91 and 1991-92. However, records indicate that the major changes to refugee processing arrangements in late 1990 were accompanied by recruitment of some 160 officers to process asylum seeker claims.

Case manager numbers for later years from Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) records from 1992-93 to 2001-02 are shown in Table A above.

In 1998-99 there were 37 case managers, reflecting the relatively low numbers of applications for protection visas being lodged. In 1999-00 there were 89 case managers and in 2000-01 there were 100 case managers together with 37 additional fully trained staff available on call to assist in the processing of the caseload. At the end of 2001-02 there were 67 trained and operational case managers throughout Australia working on refugee assessment with a further 61 officers in other areas of the Department trained and available to undertake protection visa work to meet workload fluctuations.

As part of the response to the major influx of boat arrivals in 1999 DIMIA recruited additional staff to process asylum claims. DIMIA also established a contingency reserve consisting of trained officers from other areas of the Department who could be deployed to supplement asylum processing capacity as needed. The staff numbers for this group are set out in the right-hand column in Table A.

(2) and (3) Table B provides the numbers of applications processed at primary stage broken down by nationality for program years 1990-91 through to and including 2001-02.

Primary Decisions by Year Table B

Chart A below shows trends in the numbers of decisions made each year and the numbers of case officers employed.

In 1994-95, 218 case officers processed 12,044 applications, an average of 55 applications per case manager per year. By the end of the 1990s a much higher average number of decisions per case manager per year was being achieved.

(4) and (5) Table C provides the average time taken in days to process applications at primary stage broken down by nationality for program years 1990-91 through to and including 2001-02. Note: this table does not exclude delays which are beyond DIMIA's control, such as those caused by lack of cooperation by applicants or the need for character or security checks.

Average Primary Decision Time by YearTable C

My department has been constantly reviewing, streamlining and strengthening the protection visa process to ensure speedy and rigorous processing of protection visa applications. For example, steps taken in response to the surge in unauthorised boat arrivals in recent years include:

· as early as possible after the individual enters detention, commissioning checks for identity/nationality fraud (including where practicable through language analysis), and re-entry and residence rights in other countries;

· integrating security checking work into initial interviews on arrival of the individual in detention;

· establishing streamlined medical checking arrangements as soon as the individual enters detention (these checks are needed should a visa grant be contemplated);

· overhauling arrangements for deployment of Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS) providers and protection visa decision makers to Immigration Reception and Processing Centres (IRPCs) ensuring speedy high volume processing of refugee claims;

· providing specialised training and detailed country research to case managers to support speedy and reliable decision making; and

· ensuring sufficient numbers of suitably trained case managers were available at all times to process boat arrivals as a priority and without delay.

Delays beyond a few weeks are due mainly to factors outside the control of DIMIA and the Australian Government such as the disposal of identity documentation by asylum seekers en route to Australia.

Chart B below draws on the data provided in Table C above and in the answer to part (1) to show changes to case manager numbers and the time taken to process decisions. The average time taken to process decisions fell markedly in the second half of the 1990s, reflecting the processing efficiencies achieved through that period. The large surge in boat arrivals commencing in 1999-00 had only minimal impact on average processing times. These remained conspicuously below the peak of the early 1990s.