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Thursday, 9 February 2012
Page: 682

Attorney-General's

(Question No. 1433)

Senator Humphries asked the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, upon notice, on 8 November 2011:

With reference to the answer to question no. 64 taken on notice during the 2011-12 Budget estimates hearings of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee:

(1) Given that the response noted that the media unit consists of 24.3 full-time equivalent staff, of which eight are in the 24 hour, 7 day per week Media Team (24/7 Media Team), can an explanation be provided as to the business requirement to keep such a large media unit.

(2) What sort of tasks are expected of the 24/7 Media Team.

(3) Is there a shift-work allowance for the 24/7 Media Team; if so: (a) can a description be provided as to how it operates; and (b) how much is paid annually in shift allowances.

(4) How many people are 'on call' outside hours at any particular time.

(5) How much of the Communications and Media Unit's workload is:

(a) devoted to dealing with various issues i.e. irregular maritime arrivals, drug hauls at borders etc; and (b) spent on 'positive promotion' of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and how much is spent on 'crisis management'.

Senator Ludwig: The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

In October 2011, the paid FTE for the Communication and Media unit was 22.0.

The breakdown of those staff by classification is as follows:

Pay Classification Level*	FTE
Customs Level 2	5.7
Customs Level 3	8.6
Customs Level 4	6.8
Customs Level 5	1.0
Total	22.0

The communication and media function within Customs and Border Protection includes two separate sections - the Communication Section and the Media Section is currently headed by a CL5 officer. Both sections are part of the Corporate Governance and International Strategy Branch which is headed by a SES Band 1.

The Communication Section consists of four small teams. Each team consists of 2-3 staff dedicated to each Program within the Agency, that is Border Enforcement, Passenger and Trade Facilitation and Corporate Operations as well as Digital and Online Communication. The Digital and Online Communication team also provides an in-house graphic design function.

The Communication Section is responsible for providing strategic (internal and external) communication advice to the organisation including:

developing internal and external communication strategies for Customs and Border Protection program areas;

developing and editing content for a range of communication products for internal and external audiences;

maintaining digital and online communication channels including the intranet and internet, the internal newsletter;

management of the 'Border Security' program;

production and publication of the Annual Report and

providing graphic design advice and services for communication products.

The Media Section consists of six staff and is responsible for:

monitoring, managing and responding to issues in the media;

proactively communicating Customs and Border Protection information via the media;

providing a 24/7 on-call service and

media liaison.

The media team is staffed from Monday to Friday from 7.00am until 6.30pm. On-call arrangements are in place from 6.30pm until 7.00am, Monday to Friday and from 6.30pm Friday until 7.00am Monday. There is only one officer on-call at any time and the officer is generally at the CL3 or CL2 level. However, they are provided support by a CL4 or the CL5 officer during on-call hours.

The on-call officer is paid a restriction allowance for the on-call hours, is able to access either time-in-lieu or overtime for hours worked outside of regular hours.

The restriction allowance approximately $300 per week for a CL2 and $340 for a CL3. Staff from both the Media and Communication section are available for on-call duty.