Senator Mackay asked the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, upon notice, on 23 February 2004:

(1) Can a list be provided of all administered programs in the department, including; (a) a description of the program; (b) the number of people directly receiving funds and/or assistance under the program; (c) a breakdown, by electorate, of those receiving funds and/or assistance under the program; (d) the policy objective of the program; (e) whether the program is ongoing; (f) the funding in each financial year of the forward estimates of the program, with a breakdown of administered and departmental expenses, including: (i) how much funding was allocated for the program, (ii) how much is committed to the program, and (iii) how much is unspent; and (g) an indication of whether an evaluation of the program effectiveness has been conducted, showing: (i) when that evaluation occurred, and (ii) any conclusions reached.

(2) For each of the following financial years: 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, and 2003-04 to date:

(a) how many Senior Executive officers (or equivalent) were employed in the department;

(b) what was the base and top (including performance pay) wages of APS Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (or equivalent), Executive Level 1 and 2 (or equivalent), and Senior Executive Service (SES) band 1, band 2 and band 3 (or equivalent) in the department;

(c) what was the average salary for an SES officer (or equivalent) in the department;

(d) in relation to mobile phones: (i) how many staff had phones issued by the department, and (ii) what was the total bill for the department;

(e) how many SES officers (or equivalent) were issued with cars in the department;

(f) in relation to overseas travel: (i) how many overseas trips were taken by employees in the department, (ii) what were the destinations of each of these overseas trips, and (iii) what was the total cost of these overseas trips, including a breakdown on the cost of: (A) accommodation allowances, (B) food allowances, and (C) airfares;

(g) what was the total cost of domestic trips by staff of the department, including a breakdown on the cost of: (i) accommodation allowances, (ii) food allowances, and (iii) airfares;

(h) in relation to ministerial staff: (i) how many overseas trips by ministerial staff were paid for by the department, and (ii) what was the total cost of these overseas trips;

(i) how much was spent on advertising by the department;

(j) did the department produce publications that provided electorate breakdowns on spending on government programs;

(k) how much was spent on advertising which provided electorate breakdowns of spending by the Government on programs within the department;

(l) how much was spent on consultancies by the department; and

(m) in relation to surveys conducted by the department: (i) did these include any surveys of attitudes towards programs run by the department; (ii) on what programs administered by the department were surveys conducted, and (iii) what were the findings of these surveys.

(3) For each of the following financial years: 2000-01, 2002-02, 2002-03, and 2003-04 to date, can a list be provided of all `management retreats and/or training' conducted by the department which were attended by employees, indicating for each meeting held off-site (i.e. away from the department): (a) the location and hotel where the meeting was held; (b) when the meeting was held; (c) how much was spent in total; (d) how much was spent on accommodation; (e) how much was spent on food; (f) how much was spent alcohol and/or drinks; and (g) how much was spent on transport.

Senator Coonan (Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) to (3) The answer to the senator's question was provided in answers to question number 228 and 241 placed on notice by Senator Mackay at the Additional Estimates Hearing in February 2004. The response to Estimates question on notice 241 was provided to the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee on 2 June 2004 and to Estimates question on notice 228 on 2 August 2004. A copy of the responses can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/ecita_ctte/quest_answers/index.htm.