Letter of transmittal text

Dear Ministers,

It is my pleasure to present to you the Annual Report of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the financial year 2014-15.

Subsection 63 (1) of the Public Service Act 1999 provides that, after the end of the financial year, the Secretary must give a report to ministers on the department’s activities for presentation to the Parliament. The report has been prepared in accordance with the Requirements for Annual Reports as approved by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit on 25 June 2015.

The report contains information as required under other applicable legislation including the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

I certify that I am satisfied that for 2014-15, the department:

• had in place fraud risk assessments and fraud control plans;
• had in place appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation, and reporting mechanisms that meet the department’s needs;
• took all reasonable measures to appropriately deal with fraud relating to the department; and
• complied with section 10 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014.

In presenting the Annual Report, I thank my colleagues in the department for their professionalism and dedication in helping to make Australia stronger, safer and more prosperous over the past year.

Yours sincerely

Peter N Varghese AO