Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee (part 1 of 3)
3 June 2026
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Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Australian Parliament
06:57 - 09:58
Speaker 8
Okey dokey. Good morning, everyone. I declare open this meeting of the senate foreign affairs defense and trade legislation committee, and I wanna begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting today and pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. The senate has referred to the committee the particulars of the proposed expenditure for the 2026, '27, and other related documents for the foreign affairs, defense, and trade portfolios. The committee may also examine the annual reports of the departments and agencies appearing before it.
The committee is due to report, to the senate on the June 23. The committee has set the June 12 as the deadline for senators to submit written questions on notice. The committee has also set the July 24 as the date for the return of answers to questions taken on notice. Understanding 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, but it is also an...
It is also 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 a contempt to give false or misleading evidence to a committee. Now the the senate has endorsed the following test relevance of questions at estimate hearings. 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 purpose of estimates hearings. I remind officers that the senate has resolved that there are no areas in connection with the expenditure of public funds where any person has a discretion to withhold details or explanations from the parliament or its committees unless the parliament has expressly provided otherwise.
The senate has resolved that an officer of a department of the Commonwealth shall not be asked to give opinions on matters of policy and shall be given reasonable opportunity to refer questions to a superior officer or to a minister. And 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. And I draw attention of witnesses to an order of the senate on the 05/13/2009 specifying the process by which a claim of public interest immunity should be raised, and I incorporate that into the hand side. 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 document.
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