DIMA Annual Report 1996-97

Sub-program 4.2: Onshore Service Development, Delivery and Support

Objective

To deliver onshore client services which minimise cost to Government and achieve standards of service.

Description

This sub-program provides over-the-counter services to clients and assistance to operational staff through a range of management supports, processing systems and training.

In addition, it provides support for the processes of regulation of the migration advice industry and it administers the program of Grants for Immigration Advice Agencies (GIAA).

The sub-program is delivered through a network of offices in the States and Territories, with policy and support services provided by the Service Development Branch.

Financial and staffing resources summary

	1996-97 Budget and AEs $'000s	1996-97 Actual $'000s	1995-96 Actual $'000s
Budgetary (cash) basis
Components of appropriations
Annual appropriations
Running costs	8 419	10 643	11 385
Other program costs	-	-	-
Total appropriations	8 419	10 643	11 385
Less adjustments	-	-	-
Total outlays	8 419	10 643	11 385
Total revenue	707	804	596
Staffing
Staff years (actual)	97	122	170

Performance information

Outcomes are measured by the extent to which:

1. the cost-effectiveness of services to clients in Australia is maximised;
2. quality services are provided to clients;
3. productivity improvements have been made;
4. the regulatory processes for the migration advice industry are effectively administered; and
5. the GIAA program is effectively administered.

Performance outcomes

(i) Cost-effectiveness

The delivery of onshore client services has been characterised by a trend of improved productivity, as counter transactions have increased from the previous year while the cost of the services has remained constant.

Chart 12: Counter transactions

To meet required savings, six offices were closed between August and December 1996. These were Townsville, Newcastle, Chatswood, Wollongong, Sunshine and Geelong.

A review found that, while they were the most marginal offices, alternative arrangements could be put in place to meet the ongoing demand for services. The necessary savings have been achieved, and the Department has continued to provide effective services to clients through a range of different strategies.

As most departmental services do not require clients to attend an office in person, accessible alternatives to face-to-face services have been put in place.

For example, on 1 July 1996 a national '13' telephone inquiry number was introduced. Clients anywhere in Australia can now contact a departmental office for the cost of a local telephone call. There were more than 290 000 calls to the '13' number, at an average cost of 38.6 cents per call.

Chart 13: Number of '13' calls

Following a successful pilot in Victoria, Interactive Voice Response Unit (IVRU) technology has been progressively extended to Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and The Rocks office in New South Wales.

The IVRU provides up-to-date telephone information about the Department's services and how to access them. Victoria offers telephone information, 24 hours a day, in Arabic, Bosnian, Cantonese, Croatian, Macedonian, Mandarin, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. This comprehensive service is being introduced progressively in other States.

Where clients are required to attend in person for a service, a range of options are now available to facilitate access.

These vary from an appointments system to minimise delay, to interviews for citizenship conducted, through an agency arrangement, at Post Offices in many locations throughout Australia.

In addition, some State offices have further developed their programs of regional visits, so that clients in previously unserviced rural and remote areas can obtain a more comprehensive service. These regional visits now include:

• the Hunter Region, Mid and North Coast, Central West, Albury-Wodonga and New England in New South Wales;
• Geelong, the Latrobe Valley and the Goulburn Valley in Victoria;
• Mackay, Townsville and Mount Isa in Queensland;
• Karratha, Port Hedland, Geraldton, Bunbury and Albany in Western Australia;
• Riverland, Port Lincoln and Ceduna in South Australia;
• Burnie, Devonport and Launceston in Tasmania; and
• Katherine, Gove, Alice Springs and Pine Creek in the Northern Territory.

These programs to rural and regional areas cover a broad range of portfolio issues and include visits to electorate offices, local government, Migrant Resource Centres, Ethnic Community Councils and employer groups.

(ii) Service quality

Standards for delivery of counter services, telephone services and correspondence are in place. Waiting times for clients at offices are monitored to identify and address causes of delays.

The introduction of office reception areas to deal quickly with clients seeking only information or forms has reduced the number of clients needing referral to a client service officer by approximately 40 per cent, thus substantially reducing waiting times for clients.

The quality of service provision has been improved by the introduction of the practice of seeing clients by appointment. This ensures that clients receive prompt and focused attention.

Procedures to handle and resolve complaints regarding service provision are in place in each office. The monitoring of these complaints assists offices to identify where service improvements may be required and leads to appropriate changes and measures being implemented.

The Department also obtains feedback on policy and service initiatives through a forum which it has established with the migration industry peak body, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA).

The meetings recognise positive advantages in developing a common understanding of immigration objectives and provide a valuable opportunity for feedback on client needs and levels of client satisfaction.

(iii) Productivity improvements

Service delivery and resource consumption reporting have been maintained and extended through the year and a regular cycle of unit cost and productivity bench-marking established for all services delivered by staff in the Australian Client Services Division.

Work is under way using the bench-marking information to identify and build on areas of best practice using business process redesign principles.

The flexible use of resources within the Division has supported State and Territory offices in handling major increases in counter work demand and delivering significant improvements in productivity in permanent residence and protection visa processing.

A range of enhancements has been made to computer systems to reduce the time required to register and process applications, to increase the ease of operation and to improve data accuracy.

For example, these changes have resulted in an up to 30 per cent improvement in processing times for residence cases.

Changes to case management and support systems to reflect government policy and regulation changes have also been made.

Help desk arrangements have been improved by the introduction of problem tracking software which enables integration of problem resolution activities across the Department and quicker turn around times for resolving problems.

Work continued on the development of the Integrated Client System Environment (ICSE). The business area analysis (BAA) report was completed, which included the full cost/benefit analysis of ICSE.

Further progress was delayed, pending the selection of a Strategic Partner for the development of business information technology solutions.

In response to the Government announcements on the 1996-97 Migration Program to minimise the incidence of abuse of the spouse/fiancé/interdependency provisions of the Preferential Family category, an extensive onshore training program was developed to enhance bona fides assessment.

Four training modules were distributed and work shopped with residence managers in regional offices.

The other major skills development to ensure the effective delivery of the Government policy and legislation was the provision of comprehensive training on the migration legislation changes which came into effect on or before 1 November 1996.

In a period where demand for sub-program services has increased, these productivity improvements have provided some offset to efficiency dividend targets.

(iv) Migration advice industry

Administration of the Migration Agents Registration Scheme (MARS) concentrated on improving the complaints and investigations mechanisms.

The number of agents registered under the Migration Agents Registration Scheme has continued to increase. At 30 June 1997, there were 2 454 registered migration agents, an increase of nearly 400 agents on the previous year.

The number of agents refused registration by the MARS Board dropped from 27 in 1995-96 to 23.

There were 152 complaints against registered migration agents, compared with 148 in 1995-96. The MARS Board cancelled the registration of three agents, suspended five agents and issued four official cautions.

MARS was the first regulatory arrangement to be reviewed by the Commonwealth under the Competition Principles Agreement. The review was conducted from July 1996 to March 1997, by a task force within the Department.

The task force prepared an exposure draft which contained an analysis of the current scheme and options for change.

The draft was circulated to stakeholders such as consumer groups, Migrant Resource Centres, the migration advice industry, Commonwealth and State agencies and the legal profession, seeking comments on the issues raised.

In addition to receiving written submissions, the task force held bilateral discussions with the two major stakeholders, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) and the Law Council of Australia.

The task force was guided by a reference group of independent experts, chaired by Mr Ian Spicer, former Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Following consideration of the review, the Government decided to move the migration advice industry to self-regulation via a transitional period of statutory self-regulation administered by the industry association, the MIA.

The current scheme has been extended a further six months until March 1998 to allow for passage of the legislation to put into place statutory self-regulation and to enable the MIA to develop the infrastructure to take on the role of regulator.

The key focus of statutory self-regulation is to improve consumer protection through increased industry responsibility for professional and ethical standards and improving competency standards.

The Department will be working with the MIA to put the Government's changes into effect. Statutory self-regulation is to be reviewed within two years of its operation, to assess the extent to which the industry has developed the capacity to move to full self-regulation.

(v) GIAA program

The Grants for Immigration Advice Agencies program has two components — the Application Assistance Scheme (AAS) and the Immigration Advisory Services Scheme (IASS).

The AAS is funded by the Australian Government to assist eligible asylum seekers to present their claims to protection. The Department employs a panel of contractors, engaged through an open tender process, to deliver the service.

Application assistance is available to all applicants in detention and to some applicants in the community who have cases of merit and are victims of torture and trauma or have no means of funding alternative assistance.

A total of $1.6 million was allocated to application assistance, with $0.4 million set aside for applicants in detention, $0.8 million for boat arrivals, and $0.3 million for applicants in the community.

The IASS provided grant funds totalling $0.3 million to five community agencies, to provide free immigration advice and assistance to disadvantaged and vulnerable clients in the community.

The IASS was reviewed, showing that the scheme was providing a valuable migration advisory service to disadvantaged and vulnerable non-English-speaking background (NESB) clients.

It had also had the effect of reducing the proportion of poorly prepared and inappropriate applications being submitted to the Department.

The review also found that the administrative arrangements were cumbersome and inefficient for such a small scheme and that there had been some overlap between IASS services and those provided by the AAS for asylum seekers.

As a result, it was decided to combine the IASS with the AAS. The new streamlined scheme will incorporate the range of service types currently provided by the two separate schemes, and service providers will in future be selected on the basis of an open competitive tendering process. Streamlining of these schemes will improve administrative efficiency while broadening the choice of service providers for clients.

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