Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, upon notice, on 4 November 2011:

(1) What was the total operating expenditure for the 2010-11 financial year.

(2) What was the increase from the 2009-10 financial year.

(3) What is the difference between the budgeted and actual expenditure for the 2010-11 financial year.

(4) With reference to the answer to question no. BE11/0012 taken on notice during the 2011-12 Budget estimates of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which states 'with their terms ending on 30 June 2010, 21 members did not seek reappointment, or were not reappointed for a further term', of these 21 members:

  (a) how many did not seek reappointment;

  (b) how many were not reappointed; and

  (c) of those who were not reappointed what was the reason in each case.

(5) With reference to the answer to question no. BE11/0005 taken on notice during the 2011-12 Budget estimates of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which states 'fees for the period from 1 March 2011 are subject to current negotiation and have not yet been invoiced':

  (a) what is the status of the of the 'current negotiation'; and

  (b) has it been completed; if so, what were the fees invoiced to the Independent Protection Assessment Office for this period; if not, why not.

(6) How many additional tribunal members were appointed effective 1 July 2011.

(7) In regard to each of the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

  (a) fewer than 5 per cent of tribunal decisions set aside by judicial review;

  (b) 70 per cent of bridging visas (detention cases) decided within 7 working days;

  (c) 70 per cent of RRT cases decided within 90 calendar days;

  (d) 70 per cent of MRT visa cancellation or revocation cases decided within 150 calendar days;

  (e) 70 per cent of MRT cases decided within 350 days;

  (f) fewer than 5 complaints received per 1 000 cases; and

  (g) at least 40 per cent of decisions published, can an analysis be provided of whether they were met for the 2010-11 financial year and 2011-12 financial year to date, and if a KPI was not met, why was it not met and what action has been taken.

(8) What has been the set-aside rate for the RRT and the MRT for the 2011-12 financial year to date by country of origin and visa category, and how does this compare with previous years.

(9) How many decisions have been made from 1 July 2011 to date by the RRT.

(10) How many decisions have been made from 1 July 2011 to date by the MRT.

(11) What has been the total cost of running the tribunals in the 2011-12 financial year to date.

(12) How many set aside decisions of the tribunal have been challenged by the minister in the 2011-12 financial year to date.

(13) With reference to an online article 'Immigration tribunals warn of tough times' (by Adam Gartrell on Ninemsn, 14 October 2011), in which the tribunals head Mr Denis O'Brien is quoted as saying 'Meeting the target of finalising 70 per cent of RRT cases within 90 days will be a significant challenge in 2011-12', what is the basis for this statement.

(14) What will be the cost impact of the Government's new onshore processing policy and the prediction that up to 600 irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) may arrive per month on the tribunal's operations, and are the tribunals making provisions for the expected increased arrivals and onshore processing; if so, what are they; if not, why not.

(15) How many IMAs are currently subject to the Protection Obligation Determination (POD) process which replaced the Refugee Status Determination process used for IMAs, and of this number, how many IMAs have had their claims for protection processed by the POD process.