Notice given 31 October 2011

1297  Senator Cash: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship—

(1) In regard to internal product (Outcome 1):

(a) has the department had any internal audits of its internal processes conducted since 1 July 2007;

(b) is there an internal Audit Committee within the department; if so: (i) who is on the committee, (ii) what is the role of the committee, and (iii) do the reports of the committee go to the Secretary of the department; if so, can copies be provided; if not, why not and do these reports go to an external audit committee;

(c) have any audits been conducted on the quality of departmental decision making in relation to applications from Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMA’s); if so:

(i) were these audits conducted by internal or external agencies,

(ii) what did those audits reveal,

(iii) were the audits on positive and negative decisions or just negative decisions,

(iv) who conducted the audits and at what cost,

(v) can copies of the audits be provided; if not, why not,

(vi) are there any other mechanisms for looking at departmental decision making; if so, what are they,

 (vii) is the department concerned about inconsistency between decision makers, and what is the scope of that inconsistency on the caseloads of Iranians, Sri Lankans, Iraqis and Afghanis,

(viii) what other audits have been conducted,

(ix) have those audits been made public; if none, why not,

(x) can copies of those audits be provided; if not, why not,

(xi) how many cases does each case manager handle at any one time,

(xii) what has been the highest number handled by individual case managers and when was that,

(xiii) what is the spread of cases, and

(xiv) are they all from IMA applicants;

(d) has the department received any requests by any agency or individuals to change the name of IMAs or other applicants after they have received their visas; if so, what are the reasons that people ask for their names to be changed on personal records.

(2) In regard to offshore detention (Outcome 4):

(a) how many Serco officers were on duty on 18 October 2011 at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre;

(b) how many detainees were in that compound on that day;

(c) under what circumstances would there be no officers present in a compound at any given time;

(d) what is the process of debriefing Serco officers or providing them with counselling after self-harm or other disturbing incidents;

(e) is it true that Serco officers are not being debriefed or provided with counselling after self-harm or other disturbing incidents;

(f) is Serco required to meet mandated occupational health and safety standards under the department’s contract;

(g) is the department satisfied that these mandated standards are being met by Serco; if so, how is it satisfied;

(h) have there been any instances where the department has not received security incident reports from Serco; if so, on how many occasions and what were the reasons; and

(i) can the department guarantee that all security incident reports completed by Serco officers are being provided to the department; if they are not required, why not.

1301  Senator Abetz: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency—

(1) Has the department had any dealings with the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA).

(2) Is the department aware of any concerns with ABSA.

(3) How does the department check the work of groups like ABSA in the delivery of programs like the Green Loans program and the mandatory disclosure in residential building scheme.

(4) Has the department received any complaints in relation to the conduct of ABSA.

(5) Does the department have any concerns with the conduct of ABSA.

 (6) Can details be provided, including the program and date, of how much funding the ABSA has received from the department.

1304  Senator Abetz: To ask the Minister representing the Prime Minister ( transferred to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations on 4 November 2011 , now with the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations as per ministerial changes on 14 December 2011)—In regard to the Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio, how many reviews, advisory councils or inquiries has the Government conducted or commissioned since 2007 and:

(a) what is the cost of each;

(b) who chairs or chaired each review, advisory council or inquiry; 

(c) have any of these made any recommendations in relation to the Fair Work Act 2009 ;

(d) has the Government taken action on any of these reviews; and

(e) has the Government taken action on any recommendations in relation to the Fair Work Act.

1305  Senator Abetz: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Tourism ( transferred to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation on 22 November 2011 )—In regard to the announcement made by the Government that it would remove the necessity for restaurants and cafes to provide separate menus on weekends and public holidays that incorporate service surcharges, ahead of the decision were there any representations from the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations or the Minister for Small Business; if so, can details be provided.

1308  Senator Abetz: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship—With reference to the answer to question no. BE11/0081 taken on notice during the 2011-12 Budget estimates of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, in which it was indicated that the Enterprise Migration Agreement templates were under development:

(1) Have they been finalised.

(2) Can a template be provided.

(3) Which projects will potentially have the ability to use an Enterprise Migration Agreement.

(4) Which projects have sought an Enterprise Migration Agreement to date.

1316  Senator Milne: To ask the Minister representing the Treasurer—In regard to the statutory capped effective life for various categories of oil and gas assets established in section 40-102(5) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 :

(1) How much foregone revenue does the department estimate the Commonwealth has and will incur: (a) since the introduction of these tax breaks in 2002; and (b) over the next decade, given the large investments planned in the oil and gas industry.

(2) Has the department conducted, or is it aware of, any cost-benefit analysis for these tax breaks.

(3) Is the department aware of the analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation that these tax breaks could cost between $1.6 billion and $2 billion annually by 2018 and does it have any reason to doubt this estimate.

 (4) What was the reasoning behind the department advising the Treasurer in 2010 that these tax breaks are arguably inefficient and distortionary.

(5) Will the existence of these tax breaks counteract in part the price signal intended to be created by the carbon tax.

1317  Senator Milne: To ask the Minister representing the Treasurer—In regard to the debate on impact of negative gearing on the housing market at the recent Tax Forum:

(1) Did the temporary suspension of negative gearing during the Keating Government lead to an increase in rents across the country.

(2) What proportion of negatively geared properties are newly constructed rather than existing properties.

(3) Would the abolition of negative gearing lead to an ongoing decrease in the rate of return on investment property, or just a one-off fall in prices, and does the department have any estimate of the size of any price fall.

(4) Do any overseas countries allow negative gearing; if so, can a list be provided describing any relevant differences to the Australian situation.