Speakers: Raff Ciccone, Unknown Speaker

Transcript

Raff Ciccone

All right. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to uh declare open this meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Legislation Committee. Uh I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting today and pay my respect to elders past and present. The Senate has referred to the committee the particulars of the proposed expenditure for the year 2026 27 and other related documents for the foreign affairs defense and trade portfolios. The committee has set the 5th of November this year as the deadline for senators to submit uh any questions on notice. The committee has also set the 17th of December this year as the date for the return of answers to questions taken on notice. Uh under standing order 26, the committee must take all evidence in public session and this includes answers to questions on notice. I remind all witnesses that in giving evidence to the committee, they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee and such action may be treated by the Senate as a contempt. It is also contempt to give false or misleading evidence to a committee. The Senate has endorsed the following test of relevance of questions at estimates hearings. That any questions going to the operations or financial positions of the departments and agencies which are seeking funds in the estimates are relevant questions for the purposes for the purpose of estimates I remind officers that the Senate has resolved that there are no areas in connection with expenditure public funds where any person has the discretion to withhold details or explanations from the parliament or its committees unless the parliament has expressly provided The Senate has resolved that an officer of a department of the Commonwealth shall not be asked to give opinions on matters or policy and shall be given reasonable opportunity to refer questions asked to a superior officer or to a minister. This resolution prohibits only questions asking for opinions on matters of policy and does not preclude questions asking for explanations of policies or factual questions about when and how policies were adopted. I draw the attention of witnesses to an order of the Senate of the 13th of May 2009 specifying the process by which a claim of public interest immunity should be raised and I incorporate that into Witnesses are specifically reminded that a statement claiming that information or a document is confidential or consists of advice to government is not a statement that meets the requirements of this 2009 order. Instead, witnesses are required to articulate the harm to the public interest that could result from the disclosure of the information or the An officer called upon for the first time uh to answer a question should state their full name and the position for the handside record and witnesses should speak clearly into the microphone. Please also ensure all mobile phones are switched off or turned to silent. I remind senators and witnesses in the hearing room that that microphones remain live at all times. I remind senators of their obligations under the behavior code for Australian parliamentarians to treat witnesses with dignity, courtesy, fairness, and respect. I ask members of the media to follow the established media guidelines and the instructions of the committee secretariat. And I remind everyone in the gallery who is here today, they are not permitted to speak or interfere with the proceedings or with any witness at any point during the hearing. Uh witnesses and senators who are seeking to table uh documents during the committee hearing are requested to provide an electronic copy of those documents to the secretariat so we can easily circulate them to members of the Now, today's committee proceedings will commence with representatives from the Department of Defense. And I'd like to now welcome uh Senator, the Honorable