Defence: Cost of Ministerial letterheads and mailings

Senator Ronaldson asked the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 10 September 2009:

For the 2008-09 financial year:

1. Did the Minister have any ministerial letterhead produced using the funds or resources of his or her home department; if so: (a) how many sheets of letterhead were produced; and (b) what was the cost of the production of the letterhead.
2. What was the total postage cost of mailings conducted by the Minister and/or Parliamentary Secretary using their departmental-funded franking machine.
3. (a) What was the total cost, including production and distribution, of all direct mail pieces produced by the department, including as part of a government communications campaign, where the Minister or Prime Minister was the nominal author of the piece; and (b) can an itemised list be provided of: (i) production costs, and (ii) distribution costs.

Senator Faulkner - The answer to the honourable Senator’s question is as follows:

1. Defence Ministerial letterheads for standard letters are embedded in electronic letter templates and printed onto blank paper with the text of the letter. However, the total cost for production of other letterheads, specifically ‘with compliments’ slips, A5 notepads and envelopes, was $5,769.88 for 2008-09.
2. Please see the table below.

   Office	Expenditure 2008-09
   Minister for Defence	Nil
   Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science	Nil
   Former Minister for Defence	$772.89
   Former Minister for Defence Science and Personnel	$1,092.35
   Total	$1,865.24

3. Due to the intensive effort required to manually collate information on production and distribution of all direct mail pieces for 2008-09, I am not prepared to authorise the diversion of resources solely for the purpose of answering this part of the question. 

close