Mr Murphy asked all portfolio ministers, upon notice, on 6 November 2003:

(1)  Has the Minister seen the report by Alan Ramsey titled “The taxpayer's bill where bill is short for billion” in the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 November 2003 which stated that last financial year consultancies let by Commonwealth departments and agencies was over $500 million, up from $313 million a year earlier.

(2)  How much money was spent on consultancies by the Minister's department and agencies in the Minister's portfolios in the financial years ended 30 June (a) 1997; (b) 1998; (c) 1999; (d) 2000; (e) 2001; (f) 2002, and (g) 2003.

(3)  How much money has been spent on consultancies by the Minister's department and agencies in the Minister's portfolio since 1 July 2003.

Mr Costello —The Minister for Finance and Administration has supplied the following answer to the honourable member's questions:

I am replying on behalf of all portfolio Ministers.

(1)  &(2) Expenditure on consultancies over $10,000 is reported in each agency's annual report. Details of contracts, including consultancies, worth more than $2,000 are published in the Gazette within 6 weeks. It would be a significant task for agencies to aggregate the expenditure on consultancies valued at more than $2,000 but less than $10,000 over the last 7 years and the Government is not prepared to divert resources to that task.

(3)  As noted in the answer to part 2, details of consultancies worth more than $2,000 are published in the Gazette.