Half-yearly reporting: 1 January to 30 June 2024

Working with Ministerial Offices

Departmental Liaison Officers

A Departmental Liaison Officer (DLO) is a public servant who is temporarily placed in a Minister's office to act as a conduit between their Department and the Minister's office.

Information on the allocation of Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) DLOs to Portfolio Ministers is provided below. This information is updated twice a year.

Correct as of: 30 June 2024

Ministerial briefs

Departments and agencies routinely provide briefings to their Ministers.

Statistics for the provision of submissions, briefs and correspondence provided to Ministers by PM&C and its portfolio agencies for the 2023-24 financial year are provided below.

Portfolio entities, Interdepartmental Committees, Taskforces and Reviews

The Australian Government Organisations Register (AGOR) provides information on the function, composition, origins and other details of Australian Government bodies. Bodies include entities such as advisory bodies,

There are 12 main types of bodies reported in the AGOR. PM&C is responsible for collecting information about the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio entities and bodies listed, with the exception of the Indigenous Portfolio Agencies which are managed by the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

Quarterly reporting, in the form of the AGOR Dashboard and a register movements of new and/or ceased bodies, is available on the AGOR website.

An Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) is a common governance body for cross-agency taskforces, where officials from representative agencies may discuss work and provide input on deliverables.

PM&C and its portfolio agencies are regularly involved in the work of IDCs.

By their nature, IDCs can be established and conclude their work rapidly as the need arises.

Taskforces have become a dynamic method of doing business across the APS, particularly in PM&C. Taskforces are regularly established within PM&C to meet emerging or high-profile government priorities. Some are short term (3-6 months), some longer (1-3 years), but all require dedicated focus, varying timescales, set-up and delivery resourcing and effort from many parts of PM&C and more broadly across the APS.

PM&C and its portfolio agencies are regularly involved in the work of a range of taskforces.

As at 30 June 2024, PM&C hosts the:

• 2024 Independent Intelligence Review
• ASEAN 2024 Commemorative Summit Taskforce*
• Care and Support Economy Taskforce*
• COVID-19 Response Inquiry Taskforce
• Independent Review of Commonwealth Funding for National Security Strategic Policy Work
• Jenkins' Report Implementation Team
• Rapid review of evidence-based approaches to prevent gender-based violence

*Taskforce closed on 30 June 2024.

The Department and its portfolio agencies are also involved in reviews. The outcome of reviews are typically announced by portfolio ministers.

Operational matters

Travel

PM&C's Official Travel Policy provides the overarching rules and principles for officials undertaking official travel, or organising official travel for others, including:

• Officials should ensure maximum value for money is achieved when booking travel. Value for money requires the use of Commonwealth resources in a proper (efficient, effective, economical and ethical) manner, and is enhanced through competition.
• When booking travel, officials must make decisions based on an impartial consideration of the fares available and not on a personal preference for a particular airline or aircraft type, provision of access to airline lounges or accumulating airline status points.
• Official travel should only be undertaken where other communication tools, such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing, are an impractical option.

PM&C official departmental travel statistics for the 2023-24 financial year are outlined below.

Travel Expenses (including travel for staff, contractors, guests and other travellers):¹

Secretary and Deputy Secretaries travel (included in total above)¹:

The Secretary's travel is undertaken in accordance with the Remuneration Tribunal (Official Travel) Determination, which sets out the provisions that apply when the Secretary is required to travel for official business away from Canberra.

Deputy Secretary⁵

¹ Data is provided by the Whole of Government contract provider and at the time of publication may not include adjustments to trips (amended travel dates, late cancellations, unprocessed refunds etc.) in this reporting period.

² Total cost includes all departmental travel related expenditure, booking fees and GST, where incurred.

³ This figure has been updated to add administered funding which was previously omitted from the originally reported figure of $6,838,575.

⁴ Total cost includes GST, where incurred.

⁵ Deputy Secretary positions reflect titles and occupants outlined on the PM&C organisation chart at the time of reporting. Trips undertaken by previous incumbents including acting in Deputy Secretary positions on higher duties are included under 'previous incumbents'.

⁶ Multi-leg trip with overnight stays at the listed destinations

Facilities

Upgrades to PM&C's staff amenities are managed in accordance with Commonwealth guidelines and policies, including the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C has not upgraded any of its staff amenities. PM&C's procurement contracts with a maximum contract value of $10,000 (GST inclusive) and above are reported on AusTender.

Information regarding the PM&C office spaces are outlined in PM&C's Annual Report.

Leased Office Space

Our People

At PM&C we continue to invest in our people's capability and grow the diversity of our workforce to support the Government to deliver outcomes for all Australians.

PM&C's employee data is reported on biannually, based on data as at the end of June and end of December, via the APS Employment Database (APSED).

As at 30 June 2024, PM&C had 164 labour-hire contractors working in the department and during the 2023-24 financial year, extended 119 labour-hire contracts.

Contractor hours and work patterns are managed locally between contractors and their PM&C managers and administered through the contractor's labour hire company. Hour and work pattern data is held by the labour hire company. Contractors are engaged through procurement approach to market processes.

Information regarding the department's organisation structure, including Senior Executive Services Officers, is available at Our structure.

Average Staffing Level (ASL) for the 2023-24 Financial Year:

Recruitment Activities

PM&C is committed to recruiting people with diverse experiences and from diverse backgrounds. In the 2023-24 financial year:

• PM&C externally advertised 140 ongoing SES and non-SES job advertisements to the general public through APSJobs. Most of these ongoing roles were also advertised as non-ongoing.
• 249 ongoing positions and 31 non-ongoing positions were filled as a result of these processes, noting single advertisements can result in multiple positions being filled.  
• The average time to fill a position (from approval to advertise to commencement) was 103 days.

Work Health and Safety

PM&C is committed to promoting and sustaining a robust safety and wellbeing culture – valuing physical and psychological health, safety and wellbeing and promoting inclusivity.  

In the 2023-24 financial year:

• zero claims were referred to Fair Work Commission
• 3 claims were referred to Comcare

Advertising and information campaigns

In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C:

• has not undertaken any information or advertising campaigns that meet the definition in the Australian Government Guidelines on Information and Advertising Campaigns by non-corporate Commonwealth entities.
• spent $559,434 (GST inclusive) on reportable contracts with advertising agencies, market research organisations and media advertising organisations including:
  • $219,395 for market research to inform development of communication products.
  • $119,465 for public relations, communications, marketing to inform future communication approaches.
  • $82,629 for recruitment advertising and platforms to support the 2025 graduate program.
  • $51,758 for research services to inform the COVID-19 Response Inquiry.
  • $36,143 for advertising the public notice of the COVID-19 response inquiry's call for public submissions and evidence.
  • $25,582 for market research to inform future communication approaches.
  • $24,462 for advertising CEO and advisory board roles for the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

Promotional Merchandise

In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C spent $116,274 (GST inclusive) on promotional merchandise. Of this, $109,781 (GST inclusive) was for the ASEAN Summit; and $6,493 (GST inclusive) was for PM&C branded items for career fairs, graduate and cultural programs.

Media monitoring

PM&C has a contract for media monitoring with Streem Pty Ltd. The total expenditure under this contract for the 2023-24 financial year was $455,400 (GST inclusive).

The following PM&C portfolio entities access services under this contract through a shared services arrangement:

• National Indigenous Australians Agency 
• Workplace Gender Equality Agency 
• Australian Public Service Commission. 

Procurement Activities (including Indigenous Procurement Policy)

PM&C's approach to procuring goods and services, including consultancies, is undertaken in accordance with the Public Governance Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C entered into 366 new reportable contracts with a total value of $75,158,571 (GST inclusive). The department's procurement contracts with a maximum contract value of $10,000 (GST inclusive) and above are reported on AusTender.

In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C awarded 37 contracts to Indigenous businesses with a total value of $3,775,439 (GST inclusive). The PM&C portfolio has exceeded the Indigenous Procurement Policy volume and value targets for the 2023-24 financial year.

The categories of procurement contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses registered or certified with Supply Nation and/or the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations include:

• Building construction and support and maintenance and repair services
• Components for information technology or broadcasting or telecommunications
• Computer accessories
• Computer hardware maintenance and support services
• Computer servers
• Cultural heritage preservation or promotion services
• Education and training services
• Graphic design
• Handyman services
• Notebook computers
• Personnel recruitment
• Phone and video conference equipment and hardware and controllers
• Promotional merchandising service
• Temporary personnel services

Use of Consultants

In the 2023-24 financial year, PM&C entered into 16 new reportable consultancy contracts with total actual expenditure of $984,256 (GST inclusive). In addition, PM&C had 9 ongoing reportable consultancy contracts, with total actual expenditure of $2,512,589 (GST inclusive).

The categories of consultancy contracts included:

• Audit services
• Information technology consultation services
• Legal services
• Management advisory services
• Research programs
• Strategic planning consultation services

Details about PM&C's consultancy contracts with a maximum contract value of $10,000 (GST inclusive) and above are reported on AusTender.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests

Information about the processing of FOI requests made to, or accepted on transfer by, the Department is set out below. This information is update twice a year.

Further information about the Department's processing of FOI requests can be found on our Freedom of Information page.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 can be accessed on the Department's Disclosure Log pages.

Financial yearly reporting: 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024