QUESTIONS ON NOTICE › Immigration and Citizenship: Code of Conduct Investigations (Question No. 1051)
Senator Carr: The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question: (1) (a) A total of 193 Code of Conduct investigations were completed in the financial year 2010-11. (b) There have been 45 completed Code of Conduct investigations from 1 July up to and including 29 August 2011. (2) (a) 55 completed investigations established that a breach of the Code of Conduct occurred. (b) 183 completed investigations established that no breach occurred. (3) The following table provides a breakdown of the main provision of the Code of Conduct breached in respect to the 55 completed investigations which established a breach of the Code of Conduct: s13.1) Behave honestly & with integrity 1 s13.8) Use Commonwealth resources in a proper manner 16 s13.2) Act with care & diligence 3 s13.9) Not provide false or misleading information 2 s13.3) Treat everyone with respect, courtesy & without harassment 10 s13.10) Not make improper use, to gain, or seek to gain, a benefit or advantage 9 s13.4) Comply with all applicable Australian laws 1 s13.11) At all times behave in a way that upholds the APS values 3 s13.5) Comply with any lawful & reasonable direction 3 s13.12) While on duty overseas, behave in a way that up holds good reputation 0 s13.6) Maintain appropriate confidentiality 0 s13.13) Comply with any other conduct requirement 0 s13.7) Disclose, avoid any conflict of interest (real or apparent) 7 Note: In some cases more than one provision of the Code of Conduct may be found to have been breached. However, it is not possible to easily extract this information from the department's recording system. (4) The following table provides a breakdown of the penalties applied to the 55 completed investigations which established a breach of the Code of Conduct: Termination of Employment 7 Reduction in Classification 1 Re-assignment of duties 0 Reduction in Salary 2 Deductions from salary, by way of fine 4 Reprimand 13 Counselled 13 Referred to Line Management for action after investigation 9 No further action 8 Resigned prior to sanction being applied 1 Referred for external consideration 1 Note: The total number of sanctions exceeds the number of completed investigations by four, because in four cases two penalties were applied while in every other case one penalty was applied. (5) There were 46 ongoing Code of Conduct investigations within the Minister's portfolio as at 29 August 2011.