Senator O'Brien asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, upon notice, on 5 July 1999:

(1) Is the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to be the subject of an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in August 1999; if so, on whose initiative is the audit to take place.

(2) On how many occasions has such an audit taken place.

(3) Who will actually undertake the audit.

Senator Ian Macdonald (Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) —The Minister for Transport and Regional Services has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) Yes. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conducted a safety audit of Australia from 9—20 August 1999. The 32nd Session of the ICAO Assembly (Montreal, September/October 1998) unanimously adopted Resolution A32-11 regarding the establishment of an ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit program providing for regular, mandatory, systematic and harmonised safety audits to be carried out by ICAO. The audit examined Australia's compliance with safety-related standards and recommended practices of ICAO. ICAO intends to conduct audits of all 185 Contracting States over the 1999-2001 triennium.

(2) This was the first audit of Australia under ICAO's Universal Safety Oversight Audit program.

(3) The audit was undertaken by a team selected by ICAO, comprising staff of the ICAO Secretariat and experts seconded to the program by other Contracting States.