Senator Brown asked the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon notice, on 22 September 2003:

With reference to the quarterly meetings between the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr Richard Smith and/or other embassy staff, and representatives of Australian-owned mining operations in Indonesia:

(1)  Have any meetings occurred since the meeting held on 22 July 2002; if so, for each meeting: (a) which companies attended; (b) who represented the individual companies; and (c) can a list be provided of the issues raised.

(2)  What actions, if any, did the Ambassador or embassy staff agree to undertake from each of these meetings.

Senator Hill —The Minister for Foreign Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

There has been only one meeting with Australian-owned mining companies since the meeting held on 22 July 2002. There was an introductory meeting on 24 April 2003 to introduce the new Australian Ambassador to Indonesia to company officials.

Those who attended were:

Lex Graefe, President Director, Rio Tinto Indonesia

Noke Kiroyan, Kaltim Prima Coal (a part-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Indonesia)

Andrew Wilson, President Director, BHP Billiton Indonesia

Tim Richards, Regional Exploration Manager, Newcrest Mining Group Indonesia

Ian Price, Managing Director, Austindo Resources Corporation NL

Kim Bischoff, Project Manager-Cibaliung, PT Cibaliung Sumberdaya (a subsidiary of Austindo Resources Corporation NL)

Peter Jackson, Placerdome

Bill Howell, Senior Advisor, Newmont South East Asia

Company representatives raised a number of issues relevant to the current economic, political and security environment as it related to mining activity.