Budget 2006-07

In the 2006-07 Budget, the Australian Government has announced a number of measures to advance the interests of Australia and Australians internationally.

Overseas Consular and Crisis Response - Strengthening Assistance to Australians
The Australian Government has committed $80.2 million over four years to strengthen its capacity to provide consular assistance, including enhancing crisis response and case management capabilities. This cross-portfolio measure will enhance information technology and communications infrastructure necessary to locate and assist Australians in crises, and enable the Australian Government to continue to provide a high level of consular service to the increasing number of Australians travelling overseas.

It includes $45.7 million over four years for additional Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) consular staff in Canberra and overseas, and $5.5 million for Austrade missions overseas to manage the significant and growing demands of consular casework, enhanced contingency planning and crisis response. This measure will be backed by improved training and planning support for our consular officials at a cost of $2.6 million. The initiative also includes new communications equipment to enable DFAT to deploy Emergency Response Teams overseas at a cost of $3.7 million, $21.9 million to upgrade DFAT's crisis and case management staffing and crisis centre infrastructure, and additional staff to manage the increased number of applications under the Attorney General's Department Special Circumstances (Overseas) Financial Assistance Scheme.

Smartraveller - Continued Funding
The Government will provide an additional $13.1 million over four years to extend the smartraveller public information campaign. This measure will help promote a high level of awareness among departing travellers and the broader community of the smartraveller website and the Australian Government's travel advisory services.

The smartraveller campaign, which has been in place since 2003, has improved access to the Department's travel advice and encouraged Australians to be safe travellers and take responsibility for minimising their risks overseas. The new funding will be used to enhance delivery of the smartraveller message and will increase television, print and internet advertising.

Australian Passports - Enhancing Security and Integrity
The Australian Government has committed an additional $14.6 million over four years to enhance the security of the Australian passport issuing process.

Changes in the international environment have heightened the risks associated with delivering a secure and efficient passport service to the Australian public. The new measure will further enhance the security of the passport issuing process by strengthening the governance and integrity of the passport system to better mitigate the risk of identity fraud and the use of Australian passports for criminal activity.

The proposal will include enhanced vetting, compliance and other fraud detection measures and will move the Passports Watch Office to a 24 hour, seven day a week basis to enable real-time resolution of travel document issues that arise at Australian and international borders.

Regional Counter-Terrorism Package
The Australian Government will provide an additional $92.6 million over the next four years to boost the capacity of regional countries to combat the continuing and evolving threat of terrorism.

Despite recent successes against terrorist organisations in our region, the bombings in Bali last October again demonstrated the serious terrorist threat faced by Australians travelling overseas and Australian interests in the region.

The new measures will build on existing regional cooperation in law enforcement, intelligence and border control. They will also expand regional cooperation to keep Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) out of the hands of terrorists; to build regional capability for responding to actual terrorist attacks; and to promote tolerance and counteract terrorist propaganda.

National Security - IT Connectivity
This Department of Defence and DFAT cross-portfolio measure will improve DFAT's classified overseas IT capability. As part of this measure, $1.1 million over four years will be provided to implement an interim up-grade of its classified communication links to a number of Australia's diplomatic posts. It will also fund a study which will seek to identify long-term solutions to the Department's needs for certain types of classified overseas communications.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Budget Sustainability
The Australian Government is providing an additional $48.0 million over four years to enable the DFAT to continue to deliver on Australia's expanding foreign policy and trade priorities.

Since the Department's funding base was last set in 2000, the Government's trade and foreign affairs agenda has expanded significantly, and new policy and consular priorities have emerged. Several of these initiatives have become permanent features of the Government's agenda, and this decision recognises that additional resources are required to sustain the current level of service and advice provided by the Department.

Beijing - Construction of New Annex to Chancery in China
The Australian Government will provide $21.6 million over four years to construct a new annex to the Chancery in Beijing, China. Space requirements have rapidly grown in recent years and the annex building will provide new office accommodation, a conference centre and disabled access in accordance with Australian building and safety standards.

This initiative will benefit both Australian and Chinese visitors to the Australian Embassy and staff of the Embassy. The project is scheduled for completion in mid-2010.

The cost of this measure will be met partly from reserves held in the Overseas Property Office Special Account of DFAT, with the balance funded from existing agency appropriations.

Iraq - Construction of Staff Residential Apartments in Baghdad
The Australian Government has approved $14.4 million over two years for the construction of residential apartments on the current chancery site in Baghdad, Iraq. The security of the Australian Government's operations overseas is paramount. The project will provide safe, secure and reasonable quality accommodation for the Australian officials serving in the difficult operating environment in Baghdad.

The project will be funded from existing departmental appropriations and is expected to be constructed by September 2008.

Avian Influenza - Maintaining the Delivery of Australian Government Services Overseas
The Australian Government has provided $1.8 million in 2005-06 to enable DFAT to provide antiviral medication, protective equipment and associated medical support for Australian Government staff at high-risk diplomatic missions overseas. This initiative will help ensure the Government is able to continue to deliver consular and other essential Australian Government services overseas, in the event of an avian influenza pandemic.

While there is no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza, the Government continues to monitor closely countries at higher-level of risk of avian influenza outbreaks. These include where there have been reported human avian influenza infections, countries which are in close proximity to locations of infection, locations where widespread avian influenza has been reported among bird flocks, and where concerns exist about the capacity of public health services to respond appropriately and provide the required level of medical care.

TradeStart - Extension
The Australian Government has committed $23.3 million over four years to continue the TradeStart programme, which has seen over 1100 new exporters achieve export sales worth over $410 million since 2002. Currently there are more than 50 TradeStart and TradeStart extension offices operating across all states and territories. The TradeStart network ensures that small and medium sized companies have access to export assistance wherever they are located in Australia, and to services under Austrade's New Exporter Development Program.

TradeStart is delivered in partnership between Austrade and local partners including chambers of commerce, private sector organisations, and state and territory governments. By leveraging Austrade's knowledge of international markets with its partners' local expertise, TradeStart is an effective way of helping companies into export.

India - Enhancing Australia's Commercial Engagement
The Government will allocate $2.6 million in new funding for this measure with Austrade allocating an additional $3.9 million from existing resources, bringing the total package of support to $6.5 million over three years. This initiative is important as is it designed to enhance and accelerate Australia's commercial engagement with India - one of the world's fastest growing economies - and supports Australia's trade policy objective to strengthen trade and economic relationships with key regional and bilateral trading partners.

Aid Overview
2006-07 will be a watershed year for Australia's overseas aid programme. The White Paper Australian Aid: Promoting Growth and Stability launched in April outlines how the Government will approach the goal of nearly doubling Australian's annual aid expenditure to about $4 billion by 2010. The Australian Government will provide $2.946 billion as Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2006-07, an increase of $455 million over the 2005-06 budget figure of $2.491 billion. This represents a real increase of 9.0 per cent over the 2005-06 expected outcome ($2.641 billion). The ratio of Australia's ODA to Gross National Income for 2006-07 is estimated at 0.30 per cent.

The Australian aid programme assists developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in line with the national interest. The aid programme is guided by four thematic priorities, including: accelerating economic growth; fostering functioning and effective states; investing in people; and promoting regional stability and cooperation.

Official Development Assistance - Preparations for Implementation of Aid White Paper
The Government will provide $7.3 million in 2006-07 to underpin important planning and preparatory work for the development of initiatives and pilot programmes recommended by the Aid White Paper which was launched on 26 April. Substantial up-front policy and programme development is an integral aspect of the strategy to reach the aid volume target of about $4 billion announced by the Prime Minister in September 2005.

In 2006-07, these resources will be used in preparation for significant new initiatives that will be brought forward in future years for implementation funding. Major new initiatives such as in health, education and infrastructure, will require considerable planning, development and piloting before significant expenditure can commence.

Australian Scholarships
The Australian Government will provide nearly $1.4 billion over the next five years in support of education cooperation across the region through an enhanced scholarships programme. The package is to be known as Australian Scholarships and includes an additional $442.5 million of new funding. Australian Scholarships will provide over 19 000 scholarships during the five year period from 1 July 2006.

Australia has long provided scholarships to promote development and foster relationships between Australia and the people of our region. Scholarships promote political and economic reform and good governance, while enabling regional leaders to develop enduring connections with Australia. Australian Scholarships will bring together existing scholarship programmes from the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training and the Government's international aid agency AusAID, under one umbrella. It will also include a new category of scholarship: Australian Leadership Awards, focused on developing future leaders in the region.

Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative - Contribution
In 2006-07 Australia will provide a substantial contribution of $136.2 million to finance its share of multilateral debt relief announced by G8 Finance Ministers in June 2005. Australia's contribution for the 10-year period from 2006-07 to 2015-16 will be paid up-front.

Australia's support of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative will allow the World Bank's International Development Association to provide 100 per cent debt relief to eligible countries that qualify under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The Government has been a long term supporter of the HIPC Initiative and has committed $156.6 million to date.

Australian-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development - Supplementary Administration Costs
The Australian Government will provide $9.1 million in 2006-07 to support effective administration of the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD). The funding will cover AusAID's programme management and administration costs.

This funding to cover the cost of administering the programme is being provided separately to ensure funds are not diverted from the $1 billion provided by the Australian Government for Indonesia's reconstruction and development following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Media inquiries : (Minister Downer) 02 6277 7500 - (Minister Vaile) 02 6277 7420