Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 1:28:19 to 1:33:05
Officials explain the restrictions on Deloitte personnel's access to internal IT systems and the office's commitment to World Health Organization tobacco control guidelines.
Topics: Government IT systems, Integrity
Speakers: Amber Shuhyta, Senator Barbara Pocock, Speaker 14, Stephanie Foster, Speaker 1
>> What access do those deote personnel have to your internal work files?
Uh, I might I might see if Alex has an answer to that.
>> They would have [laughter] access to the same internal IT systems as our staff.
>> Yeah, they don't have access to um my files. We have a a a recordeping system that um you know the um the things um different documents have different access uh arrangements. Um so the the IT systems in home affairs allow us to do that. Um my um there's certain documents that I have that are not open to all
staff. For example, our procurement documents, they do not have access to any of that as that is in a records folder. That
>> so there are some restrictions. Your personal files commissioner procurement. Can you give me any other categories they don't have access to? You might want to take it on notice if that's relevant.
>> Uh yes. Yes, we can take that on notice unless you No, I think they would only be accessing the the relevant work u of the teams that they are uh task work for. There would be um certain um uh there would be certain uh cabinet uh documents that would be are accessible to people on a need to know basis. I'm sure there'd be some restrictions uh in that. Um but um uh I probably don't have the kind of file structure in my head to be able to say it's that that that just
to be clear um cabinet documents are kept on a separate cabinet system. Okay. >> So they would not
>> there's no access to cabinet documents. Is there any access to policy documents?
>> So I think what Miss Shahita is saying is that she believes that they have access to documents which are directly relevant to their work but she's taken on notice to see exactly what that is.
Thank you. How does the engagement of Deote align with the Commonwealth guidance that cautions public officials against interactions with organizations likely to be working to further the interests of the tobacco industry? I don't know if you're familiar with the Deote International structure, but they are a connected set of companies. Well, they're not companies, partnerships. Um, and they do have international associations. We've seen them play out in our own country on two other big four uh um partnerships in recent years. Um, are you uh are you attentive to that Commonwealth guidance and how are you responding to that?
>> I'm very attentive to that Commonwealth guidance. That is an embedded part of of my office and the staff that work in my office. Uh I am um utterly committed to uh the World Health Organization article 5.3 of the framework conventions on tobacco control that those guidelines are based on. Uh we are very familiar with that in the office. um the um uh the staff engaged from Deote are aware of those of complying with those guidelines as well. They are not and Deote Australia is not currently involved in working with the tobacco industry. Uh so uh and the work that I am um have delegated to them to undertake uh by no means ever would uh inform policy advice on on health matters on tobacco control matters. So I'm confident that we are um aligning and complying with those guidelines.
>> And do they sign any undertakings to
Uh sorry, can you
>> as employees do they signed an undertaking to do what you've just described which is uh to stand by the obligations that are created under that instrument?
>> I think they were required to make a declaration. Sorry, I'm turning to Alex just for confirmation.
They have to fulfill a conflict of interest form and the conflict of interest form the context around that is that any engagement with the tobacco industry is considered a conflict of interest as part of our induction pack. We have the link to the guidance for public officials on engaging uh with the tobacco industry. And I would say it's also part of the broader culture in terms of an office that is very um particular about how we engage with industry representatives in a way that manages risk.
>> I'm out of time, but on notice, could I have a copy of that document so we can be aware of what you're doing? Thanks, and thanks for your answers.
>> Thank you, Senator Pok. Uh Senator Payman, you have [clears throat]