December 3, 2023
The 2016 Census came back online at 2.30pm this afternoon and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has again apologised for the outage, whilst reassuring the public that the census is back on track.
The Chief Statistician, David Kalisch, and the Census Manager, Duncan Young, both gave televised statements at 5.20pm, in time for the evening news. No resignations were forthcoming.
This is the amended Administrative Arrangements, following the swearing-in of the Second Turnbull Government.
The Administrative Arrangements outline the responsibilities of government departments and ministers. They show which Acts of Parliament fall within the responsibility of the department and minister. The Order is signed by the Governor-General.
This order renames the Department of the Environment to the Department of the Environment and Energy. It lists the matters to be added to the Department’s responsibilities, including 8 Acts of Parliament. Most of these are taken from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
This is a statement on immigration detention and children, issued by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The statement was issued by the Secretary of the Department, Michael Pezzullo.
Later in the day, a further statement was issued, following criticism of the third paragraph’s statement that “suggestions that detention involves a ‘public numbing and indifference’ similar to that allegedly experienced in Nazi Germany” were offensive.
Both statements are shown below.
Statement from Michael Pezzullo, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Immigration detention and children: separating fact from fiction
Consistent with the law of the land, and under direction of the government of the day, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection operates a policy of keeping children in detention only as a last resort, and releasing those children that might be in detention as soon as reasonably practicable.
This is a very contentious area of public policy and administration. Sometimes emotions rise and facts gets distorted. For the reputation of my Department and its officers, it is crucial that I set the record straight: the Department and its uniformed operational arm, the Australian Border Force, does not operate beyond the law, nor is it an immoral ‘rogue agency’.
Recent comparisons of immigration detention centres to ‘gulags’; suggestions that detention involves a “public numbing and indifference” similar to that allegedly experienced in Nazi Germany; and persistent suggestions that detention facilities are places of ‘torture’ are highly offensive, unwarranted and plainly wrong – and yet they continue to be made in some quarters.
Following the reshuffle of the Turnbull ministry, amendments to the Administrative Arrangements Order have been announced.
Responsibility for Population policy moves from the Department of the Environment to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
In the aftermath of Jamies Briggs’s resignation, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also takes over National policy on cities.
The Administrative Order is shown below, as is the original order from September 30, 2015.
The Abbott government has been sworn in today in Canberra.
Whilst the new Prime Minister announced the composition of the ministry two days ago, the Administrative Arrangements Order has just been issued. It was one of the first acts of the new government at its inaugural meeting of the Executive Council.
The Order sets out which departments and agencies will be administered by particular ministers. This is what Sir Humphrey Appleby would call “the real reshuffle”.
The Order also allocates responsibility for each piece of Commonwealth legislation to a specific minister.