On Monday 13 March 2000, (Hansard page 12360) Senator Cook asked me:

Can the Minister confirm that the information response service (IRS) is being established from existing resources in the Tax Office?

Will the Minister indicate from which sections of the Australian Taxation Office that the 800 staff required to operate IRS will come?

I have been advised by the Commissioner of Taxation that at the commencement of the replyin5 service in February 2000, approximately 160 existing staff from GST Technical Advice teams were identified as the available resource base to respond to client requests. To supplement these staff, volunteers were drawn from the Individuals and Small Business lines. Approximately 80 staff from other lines are now on loan to support the replyin5 service. Primarily on-loan staff provide response to ABN and PAYG queries as they relate to Individuals and Small Business clients. Without the single client contact point provided by replyin5 these requests would otherwise need to be addressed by the Individuals and Small Business lines respectively.

Current staff numbers operating the replyin5 service stand at a total of 200.

Applicants for new GST Technical positions are selected through assessment centre processes and it is expected that a proportion of successful applicants will include existing ATO staff together with staff from other Government agencies and the private sector. Current and planned staff numbers for replyin5 have been addressed in staffing and funding forecasts for reform implementation.