Other Departmental

1,167,251

1,210,127

42,876

The overspends were primarily due to:

- foreign exchange losses caused by the weakening Australian dollar;

an increase in the provision of employee entitlements - as a result of the fall in interest rates,

- the provision for voluntary redundancies; and surplus lease space as a result of the department’s planned downsizing exercise.  

Systems for People

95,185

96,564

1,379

Immaterial Variance (1.4%) - not pursued

Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)

197,697

174,519

23,178

The AMEP is a demand driven program which was underutilised by eligible clients in 2008-09.

Offshore Asylum Seeker Management (OASM)

52,538

39,225

13,313

Funding for community and detention services on Christmas Island included a base provision for processing irregular maritime arrivals (IMA).

Despite no IMAs in the first quarter of 2008-09, funding was not reduced due to a increase in the second quarter and the volatility of processing requirements.

This recognised that any underspend could not be used on other activities.

Refugee & Humanitarian

108,466

97,367

11,099

This outcome was net of a $13.35m underspend in Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) and a $2.03m overspend in Asylum Seeker Assisted Passages.

 While the allocated funding for the IHSS was based on 13 500 cases, some do not arrive onshore in the same year as the approval was granted. In 2008-09, IHSS provided services to 12 035 clients. The Asylum Seeker Assisted Passages overspend was due to a combination of adverse currency exchange movements, during the year, and the inclusion of additional prior year expenses.

Enforcement of Immigration Law

109,863

104,826

5,037

In 2008-09 there was a decrease in the:

- total numbers of people held in immigration detention;

- number of people taken into immigration detention; and

- time a person was retained prior to removal.

The result was an overall drop in detention costs.

Other

18,064

16,937

1,127

The underspend was primarily due to lower than budgeted costs involved in the supervision and welfare support for unaccompanied humanitarian minors.