The Ceremonial and Hospitality Branch’s chief role is to manage the ‘State occasions and official visits’ administered item. The following narrative covers both departmental and administered items outcomes.
| Output 4.6 Ceremonial and Hospitality |
Performance indicators |
| Departmental outcomes: Provision of support services to the Government for overseas visits by the Prime Minister, government hospitality for overseas dignitaries and official ceremonies. | Quality: The degree of satisfaction of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, Secretary and departmental Executive with management of the Government’s visit, ceremonial and hospitality services.Cost of Outputs – $2.5m |
| Administered item: State occasions and official visits. |
Quality: The degree of satisfaction of
the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Governor-General’s
Office and the departmental Executive, as expressed through formal
and informal feedback mechanisms, with: visits to Australia by
heads of state and government; arrangements for the Prime Minister’s
overseas visits; state occasions; and advice on relevant matters,
including official gifts. Assessment by the sponsoring Minister, Minister’s
office or department, together with Australian and foreign diplomatic
representatives, as expressed through formal and informal feedback
mechanisms, of:
|
Qualitative assessment
Methodology
All visits and events that the branch is responsible for are followed up with either verbal or written requests for feedback from the Prime Minister and his office or from a relevant Minister’s office. Regular feedback is also received in the form of comments from the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Secretary and the departmental Executive.
In addition feedback is received in comments and letters of appreciation from visitors and their diplomatic representatives, as well as in visit assessment cables submitted by Australia’s overseas posts.
Feedback
The feedback received from the visiting guests of government, the Prime Minister’s Office and other sources during 2001–02 was positive. Correspondence reflecting favourably on the planning and management of visits and other work undertaken by the branch was received from a number of sources, including the Embassy of the United States of America, the Private Secretary to Her Majesty The Queen, Argentina’s Foreign Minister, the United Kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister and Admiral David Jeremiah (who represented the President of the United States during Coral Sea Week).
Key results
The year 2001–02 was particularly busy for the branch, which performed well under pressure.
Royal Visit and CHOGM visits
While not directly involved in the organisation of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the branch was responsible for organising a number of bilateral state visits flowing from the meeting. Approvals for other guest of government visits under the state occasions and official visits programme were suspended from 24 September to 26 October 2001 to allow for the branch’s involvement with the CHOGM visits.
In the lead-up to the proposed October 2001 CHOGM, the branch completed detailed organisation for a Royal Visit by Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, and visits by the Prime Ministers of India and Canada and the President of Nigeria. Those arrangements were interrupted when CHOGM was postponed by the Commonwealth Secretary-General following terrorist attacks that occurred on 11 September in the United States.
Guest of government visits were again suspended from 1 February to 17 March 2002 to allow the branch to prepare for another intense period of CHOGM related visits. In anticipation of the rescheduled March 2002 CHOGM, the branch completed detailed programmes for the Royal Visit by Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, and visits by the President of Nigeria and the Prime Minister of India; however, the latter visit was cancelled at short notice.
The 2002 Royal Visit was judged to be a great success, with tens of thousands of citizens in South Australia and Queensland involving themselves in lining motorcade routes and taking part in meet-the-people walks in the urban and rural centres visited. Her Majesty The Queen also took part in the CHOGM opening ceremony and a banquet hosted in honour of her Golden Jubilee by CHOGM delegates at Coolum.
Other visits
Apart from the CHOGM related visits, and despite the two periods of suspension of the official visits programme, there were a number of other high-level visits during the year, including state visits by the Presidents of Portugal and Greece and the Prime Ministers of Japan and Thailand. There were four official working visits during 2001–02, by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Chief Minister of East Timor and the President of East Timor.
There were also 17 Ministerial guest of government visits, including by the United States Secretaries of State and Defense, who attended Australia–United States Ministerial talks; and by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, Argentina, Indonesia, China and Iran and a representative of the United States President, for Coral Sea Week. The success of the visits provided positive support for Australia’s bilateral relationships with the countries involved.
Prime Minister’s overseas visits
The branch planned and coordinated successful visits by the Prime Minister to Japan (2–4 August 2001); to Indonesia (12–14 August 2001); to the United States (8–14 September 2001), a visit which was interrupted by the events of 11 September; to China for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shanghai (19–22 October 2001); to the United States and Indonesia (28 January–8 February 2002); to the United Kingdom for a CHOGM follow-up meeting with Presidents Obasanjo of Nigeria and Mbeki of South Africa (18–23 March 2002); to the United Kingdom for the funeral of The Queen Mother (7–11 April 2002); to East Timor and China (19–24 May); to the United States (8–14 June); and to Europe, beginning on 30 June 2002.
Other responsibilities
The branch was involved in the arrangement of three state funerals, being for: the Hon. Evan Adermann AO (held on 7 November 2001 in Nambour, Queensland); the Hon. Sir Gordon Freeth KBE (held on 4 December 2001 in Perth, Western Australia); and Mr Alex Campbell, the last surviving Gallipoli veteran (held on 24 May 2002 in Hobart, Tasmania). In addition, the branch organised two state memorial services: one on 17 September 2001, in the Great Hall of Parliament House, honouring the victims of the terrorist attacks which had occurred on 11 September; and one honouring former Prime Minister the Rt Hon. Sir John Grey Gorton GCMG, AC, CH on 31 May 2002 at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.
The branch coordinated 77 airport facilitations for heads of state, heads of government and royalty transiting Australia. Airport facilitation involves the branch’s advising airport authorities and relevant agencies of flight details and arranging for either a part-time visit officer or Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officers to meet and coordinate arrangements for customs, immigration, quarantine and transport procedures on arrival and departure.
The annual Prime Minister’s cricket match, which this year was played against the New Zealand team, was organised by the branch to take place at Manuka Oval, Canberra on 6 December 2001. The branch also participated in making arrangements for the cricket match between the Prime Minister’s XI and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Chairman’s XI which took place at Manuka Oval on 8 March 2002. The branch organised receptions for the teams at The Lodge the night before the match on both occasions. The branch also coordinated the Australia Day function held at The Lodge on 26 January 2002.
The official gifts contract continues to be monitored by the branch. A new tendering process for the contract began on 23 March 2002 and will be completed in the second half of 2002.
| Contents | Secretary's Review | Portfolio and Departmental Overview
|
| Report on Performance
| Corporate Governance |
| Coolum
CHOGM | Appendixes | Financial Statements |
| Glossary | Subject Index
|
(c) Commonwealth of Australia 2002
