Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The question is: when does this 12 months start? Does it start when the asylum seekers are picked up by our patrol boats? Does it start when they actually take their first step in Australia? Does it start when they submit their refugee application for consideration? Does it start when that application has been considered, accepted or denied? When does this period start?

The concern here is: how does this money that has been taken out of the AusAID budget and has been thrown into another bucket for DIAC, for their divestment, get recorded? There has been no answer given as to how that is accounted for. The other issue here that any layperson would consider when thinking about this matter is whether, if you are talking about ODA, and the definition of it, being able to be accessible for refugee status for a 12-month period, that means that that bundle of money is apportioned to a certain group of refugees that is no longer eligible once that 12-month—whenever it starts—has lapsed. There is a real question here in relation to competency and there is a real question in relation to transparency—questions that we could not get any responsible answer to during Senate estimates.

There is another matter that continues to be of deep concern. An independent review into the effectiveness of aid was undertaken a couple of years ago. It was a very impressive document, and I have gone on the record many times commending Mr Baxter for that document. What we are looking for is the implementation of the 37 recommendations that were in that document because they would really strengthen the way in which we can guarantee, as a parliament, that aid is deployed and divested in the most effective way possible. We asked Mr Baxter how one of those recommendations was going and the implementation of it. This was recommendation 30 of the Independent review of aid effectiveness, which essentially is the implementation of a whole-of-government approach, with universal standards across the board and across all departments for the planning, monitoring and reporting of the divestment of AusAID. When we asked about that we were told that of the 20 Australian government agencies that are responsible for administering ODA not one of them has complied with recommendation 30—not one! So whilst that review has been printed, delivered to us and circulated—and, again, I say it is a very commendable document—not one of those agencies has complied with one of those recommendations.

I am a great supporter of overseas development assistance. I am a strong advocate for our responsibility to help people of other nations who require support of civilised Western countries such as ours. But I do not support not having a transparent process to ensure that taxpayer money is deployed effectively and not wasted.