Address to the Attorney-General’s Department
Senior Executive Service Planning Conference
Rydges Hotel, Canberra
8 May 2008
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Introduction
1. First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.
2. Thank you for this opportunity to address this planning conference of SES officers of the Attorney-General's Department.
3. At the outset, let me record my appreciation for the work undertaken by the Department since the election to implement the new Government's program.
4. I know this has been a particularly busy and tiring period and I appreciate the commitment and dedication you have shown.
5. Let me also say that I regard it as an enormous privilege to hold the office of Attorney-General.
6. It is a portfolio for which I have a tremendous passion, having previously been Shadow Attorney-General for five years, and having practised as a lawyer for 14 years before entering Parliament.
7. I am greatly looking forward to working with you to implement the Government's plan to build a modern, competitive Australia that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Strategic policy development
8. As the Prime Minister made clear last week, this project will require a strong commitment to strategic policy development – identifying emerging challenges and opportunities, and developing evidence-based policy responses that serve Australia's long-term needs.
9. I agree that there is a real role for the public service in providing long-term strategic advice and policy leadership, in addition to striving for excellence in implementation and service delivery.
10. I have a great deal of respect for the considerable knowledge and experience contained within this, one of the most enduring Departments in the Commonwealth public service. As I said early on, I encourage you to put forward your ideas and proposals. I may not always agree, but I will always welcome and listen seriously to them.
11. As the Prime Minister also emphasised, the new Government is firmly committed to fostering a culture of policy innovation within the public service. We must all listen to feedback from stakeholders and examine critically existing ways of doing things, asking whether they continue to meet the needs of the Australian people. If they do not, we must not be afraid to look to other jurisdictions or to consult widely in the community for new approaches that, the evidence suggests, can work and be adapted to Australia's circumstances.
12. We must also strive for a coordinated approach to policy development across government. This means recognising the priorities of the Government as a whole and working cooperatively with other agencies meet these objectives.
13. With these principles in mind, today I would like to draw together a number of the policy initiatives you are working on and place them in the context of not only my priorities for the portfolio, but also the Government's program as a whole.
14. My intention is not to mention every initiative underway but to leave you with a sense of the broader purpose served by the important work you are undertaking.
Improving national security coordination
15. First, let me address national security.
16. There can be no higher priority of a government than to protect its citizens from the threat of terrorism.
17. The Rudd Government takes a hard line against terrorism. For that we make no apology.
18. However, the fight against terrorism cannot be won by government alone. It requires the support and confidence of the entire community.
19. When the Rudd Government came to office, that public confidence had been shaken by the high-profile collapse of the Haneef case.
20. One of my first acts was to honour the Government's election commitment by establishing the Clarke Inquiry, to ensure the lessons from the case are learnt.
21. The Haneef case raised questions about whether coordination between our national security agencies is as good as it possibly can be.
22. Improving the coordination of our counterterrorism investigations and prosecutions is one of my highest priorities.
23. I am pleased the agencies have been working hard to address this issue, assisted by the recommendations of the Street Review commissioned by the Australian Federal Police.
24. My recent visit to the United Kingdom brought home what can be achieved when police, intelligence and prosecutors cooperate closely from the early stages of a counter-terrorism operation.
25. There, a willingness on all sides to share information and provide mutual assistance has led to a very high success rate in counterterrorism prosecutions.
26. Admittedly, it is a record born of a much longer experience with terrorism.
27. But I am determined to ensure that our efforts to improve the coordination of our counter-terrorism investigations and prosecutions are informed by what has worked among our allies in the fight against terrorism.
28. The broader issue of national security coordination across government is, of course, one that is being examined through the Homeland and Border Security Review being conducted by Mr Ric Smith AO PSM, and I am pleased to see all relevant agencies in the portfolio participating in that review.
Preventing radicalisation
29. As I also said when I became Attorney-General, a terrorist threat has as much prospect of emanating from a disgruntled and alienated Australian youth as it does from an overseas terrorist organisation.
30. I firmly believe that the prevention of radicalisation within Australian communities is one area of our national security where we need to develop a more sophisticated approach.
31. Again, on my recent visit to the United Kingdom I was impressed by the innovative work being done in this area. The UK has developed sophisticated whole-of-government programs to build the capacity of Muslim communities to resist extremism and to prevent radicalisation of vulnerable individuals, built on partnerships between a range of government agencies, police, local government and Muslim communities themselves.
32. I have tasked the Department to work with other relevant agencies to develop counterradicalisation strategies that are appropriate to Australia's circumstances, drawing where relevant on overseas experience.
33. Improving coordination of counter-terrorism prosecutions and preventing violent extremism are, of course, complementary. Successful prosecutions support counter-radicalisation efforts by sending a clear warning to individuals who are flirting with extremism. The real prospect of conviction and imprisonment can help open their eyes to what terrorism really is – criminal behaviour at its most base and brutal level.
Improving emergency management
34. Increasingly it is being recognised that threats to our security go beyond human sources and extend to natural disasters such as bushfires, floods, cyclones or tsunamis, which can destroy infrastructure, displace entire communities and cause chaos and confusion.
35. With the reality of climate change upon us, these threats cannot be underestimated.
36. Building on and improving our emergency management arrangements is therefore a high priority of mine.
37. We need to ensure our communities are as prepared and resilient as they can be to cope with such disasters and that Australia has an emergency response capability that is second to none.
38. At the first meeting of the Ministerial Council on Emergency Management since the election of the Rudd Government, we were able to make solid progress on a number of key challenges, including the development of a comprehensive set of Australian Emergency Management Arrangements, a new public information campaign and a nationally consistent emergency warning system.
39. But there is still considerable work to be done, and I am committed to ongoing engagement with my State and Territory counterparts to ensure Australian communities are ready to meet the emerging security challenges of the 21st century.
A new era of cooperation and reform
40. This leads me to my next priority which is to ensure that, more generally, we seize the opportunity presented by like-minded governments at the Commonwealth, State and Territory level to make real progress on harmonising and modernising our laws and regulations.
41. This is essential to provide a modern legal framework to improve the productivity and competitiveness of our economy and ensure Australia is positioned to be the commercial hub of our region.
42. At its first meeting since the election of the Rudd Government, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General committed itself to undertake a comprehensive review of the SCAG agenda to identify priority areas where we can move beyond the deadlocks of the past and achieve real progress, either through administrative action or legislative action.
43. This will be complemented by a harmonisation conference later this year which will actively engage stakeholders including the legal profession, industry and academics from across Australia and New Zealand to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives on reform.
44. Importantly, at the last meeting agreement was reached to advance key microeconomic reforms in the areas of personal property securities and electronic conveyancing, and to offer assistance in the modernisation of trustee company regulation. These are among the 27 areas of business regulation reform agreed by COAG this year for action.
45. With the collective legal and technical expertise that lies behind it, I believe there can be a real role for SCAG in helping to implement the reform agenda identified by COAG. But it will not happen unless we have a shared commitment to make SCAG a dynamic and efficient ministerial forum. 46. My attention is now firmly on the next SCAG meeting in July to ensure we build on the success and momentum of the first meeting.
Ensuring social inclusion
47. Another area in which we must recognise the potential for this portfolio to make a significant contribution is in the delivery of the Rudd Government's social inclusion agenda.
48. Access to justice is one important part of ensuring Australians can participate effectively in the life of their communities.
49. Legal aid and community legal services often stand at a critical point on the road towards social exclusion on which a person facing a family breakdown, or the loss of a home or a job, can find themselves.
50. Importantly, social inclusion must not be regarded as just a new badge for existing social programs. The Government's social inclusion agenda is very much about finding new and more effective ways of tackling entrenched problems, through new partnerships and ideas.
51. I am pleased the Department is working with other relevant agencies to identify areas where these important legal services can play a role in the delivery of the Government's social inclusion agenda.
52. As an indication of the priority I give to access to justice, I recently announced a one-off injection of $10 million for the Commonwealth Community Legal Services Program – the largest injection ever – and a further one-off boost of $7 million for Legal Aid to relieve the most immediate pressures on the system.
53. I am also committed to looking for new ways we can deliver these programs to maximise their effectiveness in meeting the needs of disadvantaged members of our community. I recently released a review of the community legal services program conducted by the Department, which is currently with stakeholders for consultation. And at the first SCAG meeting since the election of the Government, I committed to bring forward a paper, in consultation with the States and Territories, on ways we might improve our legal aid funding arrangements.
54. And while we are on the broad subject of enabling participation in our society, I should also mention the Government's commitment to move in the Winter Sittings of Parliament to begin dismantling the discrimination that still exists against Australians in same-sex relationships in a wide range of Commonwealth laws and programs. I commend the Department on the considerable work it has done since the election to coordinate the timely delivery of this long overdue reform across government.
Closing the gap with indigenous Australians
55. Another key commitment of the Rudd Government is to work towards closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in a range of areas including life expectancy, infant mortality, education, housing and employment.
56. While indigenous justice is primarily the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for
Home Affairs, I do want to emphasise the role I believe native title, for which I am responsible, can play in forging new partnerships with
57. As I said earlier this year, native title has for too long been mired in complex, technical legal arguments which have obscured the potential for a well-functioning native title system to provide indigenous people with an important avenue of economic development.
58. I am keen to see all parties, including the Commonwealth, adopt a more creative and innovative approach to native title negotiations in order to achieve practical outcomes that deliver economic development opportunities to indigenous Australians and certainty to business and land-holders.
59. There have been some excellent examples of such outcomes being achieved, from which we can all learn.
60. Again, this is an area in which a more cooperative approach between the Commonwealth, States and Territories is essential. For that reason I am very much looking forward to working with my State and Territory colleagues at the Native Title Ministers' Meeting in July this year to make better use of the opportunities that native title offers to close the gap with indigenous Australians.
Improving government accountability
61. Improving government accountability and transparency is a further commitment of the new Government.
62. This is exemplified in a range of initiatives underway across the public service, from reforms to freedom of information, to the development of best-practice whistleblower legislation, to the adoption of a new merit-based selection process for senior public service appointments.
63. In this portfolio, I have taken immediate steps to put in place a more transparent and consultative process for making appointments to our federal courts. And I have invited debate and feedback from the legal profession and other stakeholders on this process and other options.
64. I have also tasked the Department to explore ways to introduce greater accountability and efficiency in the way the Commonwealth procures legal services, which forms part of a larger review of the Commonwealth's procurement practices being coordinated by my colleague the Minister for Finance.
Improving the delivery of government services
65. I also want to see a renewed focus on how we can work to improve the delivery of government services in the interests of the public we all serve.
66. Nowhere is this more pressing than in the family law area. With the considerable growth and diversification in family law services in recent years, now is a good time to take stock and look at ways we can improve the effectiveness and integration of service delivery across the family law jurisdiction.
67. That is why I have asked the Department to work closely with the Family Court and the Federal Magistrates Court, in consultation with other stakeholders, to review the optimal effectiveness of the delivery of these services to Australians experiencing family conflict.
Strengthening the rule of law at home and abroad
68. Finally, let me re-affirm my commitment as Attorney-General to pursue a range of initiatives to strengthen the rule of law at home and abroad.
69. I have asked the Department to work on ways to build the capacity of the legal profession in our region to support the rule of law, which is so crucial to the stability and health of our neighbouring democracies.
70. And at a global level, we have also demonstrated our commitment to re-engage with the United Nations to promote the rule of law internationally – including by commencing the long overdue process of becoming a party to a number of key international instruments opposed by the former Government, such as the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.
Conclusion
71. As will be apparent, the initiatives underway are many and varied – and there are many more I have not mentioned. This reflects not only the diversity of the Attorney-General's portfolio, but also the breadth and depth of the challenges we face.
72. Building a nation that is able to meet the emerging security, economic and social challenges of the 21st century is a daunting task, but one I am confident we will be able to meet with a shared commitment to hard work, innovation and critical thinking in our policy development.
73. I hope you find your part in this project a rewarding one and look forward to a long and productive partnership with you.
ENDS