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Annex A - Networking the Nation board terms of reference

The NTN Board's primary role is to approve the allocation to projects of funds held in the Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Minister. Once the Board has made its decision, the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts will arrange for payments to applicants, subject to appropriate contractual arrangements.

The Board's decisions on the allocation of funds to projects will not require Ministerial endorsement.

The other roles of the Board are to:

• develop guidelines for the Minister's approval which set out the criteria against which projects will be assessed and selected for funding;
  
• consider submissions made to the Board by state and territory governments (at the invitation of the Minister) in determining a strategy for NTN funding for each state/territory;
  
• make recommendations to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts on policy issues that may arise through the process of fund allocation;
  
• participate in the development, promotion and evaluation of the Programs; and
  
• present annual reports on the operations of the Programs (see below).

Responsibilities of the Board Members

Members have a responsibility to:

• consider each project application on its own merits in accordance with the guidelines as assessed against the selection criteria and to be fair and unbiased; and
  
• identify where there may be a conflict of interest.

Accountability

Administration of the Programs will be subject to the normal processes of review of departmental Estimates by the Senate Legislation Committee. The Programs will be audited by the Auditor-General. For each year of the Programs' five-year life, the Board will present and the Minister will arrange for tabling in Parliament, an annual report on the operations of the Program. The report will include financial statements prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the Minister for Finance and audit reports by the Auditor-General.

The Board will be expected by the general public, applicants, Parliament and key stakeholders to provide a justification for its funding decisions. The Board will need to determine to what extent this information will be made publicly available while at the same time respecting commercial and applicant confidentiality. Documents would be subject to normal provisions relating to documents held in the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts such as the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

General

The Board will perform these functions in accordance with any guidelines, conflict of interest codes of conduct or meeting procedures in force from time to time.

ANNEX B
Funding

The objective of the Networking the Nation (NTN) Program was to assist the economic and social development of rural Australia by funding projects which:

• Enhance telecommunications infrastructure and services;
  
• Increase access to, and promote use of, services available through telecommunications networks; and
  
• Reduce disparities between urban and non-urban areas in access to such services and facilities.

The Program was initially allocated a total of $250 million from the sale of the first tranche of shares in Telstra. This funding became known as the General Fund. The $250 million was apportioned so that the share each state received was in direct relation to the proportion of that state's population that resided outside the state's capital city.

In 1999 the Government announced an increase of $174 million in NTN funding from the Social Bonus resulting from the sale of a further 16 per cent of Telstra.

Of this:

• $70 million was allocated to the Building Additional Rural Networks (BARN) initiative;
  
• $45 million was allocated to the Local Government Program to assist local government authorities in regional Australia to provide online access to information and services including the Internet;
  
• $36 million was allocated to the Internet Access Program to stimulate Internet service delivery in regional and rural Australia;
  
• $20 million was allocated to the Remote and Isolated Island Program to improve telecommunications access for these communities; and
  
• $3 million was allocated for extended mobile telephone coverage - $1 million each in WA, SA and Tasmania

A small administrative component deducted from the total allocations was used for the support of the NTN Board and Secretariat.

In the case of the Rural Internet Access Program, arrangements changed because a commercial offering from Telstra delivered the outcomes the Program was aiming to achieve. Consequently, in the 2001-02 Budget, the Government announced that it would reallocate funds to fund telecommunications and Internet initiatives as part of the Government's response to the Telecommunications Service Inquiry. A total of $21 million was reallocated, $15 million of the original funding was allocated to the National Communications Fund and $6 million of the original funding was allocated to the Internet Assistance Program, a joint venture with Telstra to provide better quality and faster access to dial-up Internet services. In the 2002-03 Budget the unspent residual funds were declared as savings.

In the case of the BARN Program, the uncommitted funds (totalling $35 million in June 2003) were incorporated into the National Broadband Strategy as part of the Government's response to the Estens Report.

The General Fund Program, the Internet Access Program, and the Remote and Isolated Islands Program were conceived with finite funding periods. In all three cases funding was to conclude by 30 June 2003 (and in the case of the last two Programs this date was prescribed in legislation). In the course of the 2003-04 Budget, the Government approved a 12 month extension to the life of the General Fund Program, as a precaution against projects not being completed by the 30 June 2003 sunset date. The General Fund concluded on 30 June 2004.

The NTN Secretariat

The NTN Secretariat was provided by the Commonwealth Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

The Secretariat provided advice and guidance to applicants developing proposals, assisted the Board by assessing applications, administered the Deeds of Agreement, monitored the progress of funded projects, and acquitted all funding agreements. Secretariat staff also promoted the Program and discussed with interested parties the aims and potential benefits of the Program to their communities.

General processes

The NTN program operated under guidelines approved by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. In addition to the guidelines, the NTN Board issued fact sheets describing its funding priorities, determined after the Board's consideration of the Program guidelines and based on its experience with the Program. Applicants were able to access full information about the Program online, including Program Guidelines and Fact Sheets.

In 2000, NTN introduced an online grants application and project management facility. This enabled applicants to complete a registration form, to have their eligibility confirmed by the Secretariat, and then proceed to submit their application all online via a unique identifier and password. If applicants did not have Internet access, the Secretariat provided application forms and other material on floppy disk. Applicants without access to a computer were provided with a hard copy application form and hard copies of other material.

State advisory groups/state contacts

Each state, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory established an Advisory Group to assist the Board in its deliberations. These groups met before each Board meeting and provided information and advice on applications in relation to state policies and priorities for telecommunications and information technology.

In addition to the State Advisory Groups, each state, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory had a NTN Coordinator to provide a point of contact for applicants and prospective applicants within that state/territory.

Other sources of advice

Where necessary, technical and financial consultants were utilised to provide analysis of more complex applications. This analysis formed part of the Board's assessment.

Relevant Commonwealth Government departments and agencies (Department of Transport and Regional Services [DOTARS], Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Department of Health and Aging [DoHA] and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Commission [ATSIC] were also consulted as appropriate by the Secretariat. They provided a source of advice on the merits of project applications, provisions of financial and technical advice, and other sources of Commonwealth funding and expertise.

The NTN Secretariat liaised with DOTARS to avoid duplication with the Rural Transaction Centre and Regional Solutions Programs.

ANNEX C
New projects approved by the NTN Board in 2003-04

Project code	Applicant	Project	Location	Description	Funds
TAS2003/384	Local Government Association of Tasmania	Website management tools	Tasmania	Implementation of a content management system and website management tools into a minimum of nine Tasmanian Councils.	$169 000
MST2003/168	Community Teleservices Australia Inc	Teleservice Centres Viability in Rural and Remote Australia	Australia wide	Preparation of a report on issues relating to the viability of Telecentres.	$50 000
TWO NEW PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2003-04				TOTAL PROJECT FUNDING COMMITTED IN 2003-04	$219 000

Project top-up funding to previously approved projects approved 2003-04

Project code	Applicant	Project	Location	Description	Funds
QLD2001/332	Beechmont Community Association Inc.	Beechmont Advanced Communications Upgrade Project (BACUP)	Beechmont	Additional funding for rental assistance for the Beechmont Community Association.	$14 600
MST2001/146	Australian Local Government Association	Local Government Interoperability Framework	Australia wide	Funding for additional projects of national significance as part of the broader LGIF project.	$364 065
NT1997/008 / NT2001/058	Northern Territory Department of Corporate and Information Services	Electronic Outback Project - eCAF and EOP	Northern Territory	Additional funding for changes to the platform infrastructure.	$180 000
NT2001/070	Gap Youth Centre Aboriginal Corporation	dEadly mOb Internet Café	Alice Springs	Additional funding to purchase servers to host and service the email component and provide technical support for the Internet Café.	$31 117
				TOTAL FUNDING FOR VARIATIONS TO PROJECTS	$589 782
TOTAL TOP-UP FUNDING TO EXISTING PROJECTS					$589 782
TOTAL OF NEW PROJECTS APPROVED AND TOP-UP FUNDING TO EXISTING PROJECTS IN 2003-04					$808 782

ANNEX D
NTN Expenditure

1997-98 to 2003-04

	General Fund	Local Government Fund	BARN Fund	Remote & Isolated Islands Fund	Internet Access Fund	Extra Mobile Phone Coverage Fund	Total
ACT	$3 807 793						$3 807 793
NSW	$35 627 892	$5 263 333	$7 635 303		$884 730		$49 411 258
NT	$15 014 854	$4 440 155	$229 074	$1 477 075			$21 161 158
QLD	$50 275 093	$5 773 334	$4 541 747	$7 193 279	$1 010 000		$68 793 453
SA	$25 328 541	$4 908 000	$762 000	$84 000		$1 000 000	$32 082 541
TAS	$55 524 893	$4 726 227	$2 476 832	$4 248 131	$157 114	$1 000 000	$68 133 197
VIC	$27 249 052	$5 773 334	$1 030 169				$34 052 555
WA	$25 194 333	$5 345 000	$3 965 297			$993 496	$35 498 126
External Territories				$2 497 248			$2 497 248
National		$2 802 660		$2 358 259	$860 000		$6 020 919
TOTAL	$238 022 451	$39 032 043	$20 640 422	$17 857 992	$2 911 844	$2 993 496	$321 458 248

Notes:
1. These figures may change as projects formally acquit and identify interest earned and/or unexpended funds.
2. BARN and Local Government Funds expire on 30 June 2005. Expenditure of 43 BARN & LG Projects expected to be completed in 2004-05 have not been included.
3. The BARN expenditure for ACT is included under the NT.
4. These figures exclude the expenditure for Tasmanian Schools.

ANNEX E
Status of NTN projects

As at 30 June 2004

	Projects approved (includes terminated projects)	Terminated/ withdrawn/did not proceed/ after Board approval/or merged	Projects implemented	Projects acquitted	Projects completed (not yet acquitted)	Active projects
National	21	5	16	12	3	1
ACT	4	0	4	2	2	0
NSW	135	5	130	104	20	6
NT	26	1	25	14	2	9
QLD	150	6	144	103	27	14
SA	92	6	86	70	9	7
Vic	92	4	88	60	27	1
WA	53	4	49	35	10	4
Tas	189	4	185	153	13	19
Multi-state	27	4	23	16	3	4
External territories	13	1	12	6	5	1
TOTAL	802	40	762	575	121	66

Notes:
1. Acquitted projects are reconciled with the NTN Online System.
2. Active Projects includes 23 General Fund Projects still to be reconciled with the NTN Online System and 43 BARN & LG projects to be completed by 30 June 2005

Definitions:

Projects approved: projects approved by the NTN Board as formal decisions.
Projects withdrawn: projects approved but the applicant withdraws from the project prior to the signing of a funding agreement.
Projects terminated: approved projects terminated prior to projects completion. Funds may or may not have been released.
Merged: approved projects merged with an existing project.
Acquitted: approved projects finalised in accordance with the funding agreement of Agreement i.e. all funds have been paid, the recipients have completed the project and all required reports have been accepted.
Completed: approved projects completed but not finalised or acquitted.
Active: approved projects still to be completed.

ANNEX F
2003-04 Annual Report Consultancy Services

Reference Number / Contract Number	Date Contract Entered	Company name if Applicable	Name of the consultant	Summary description of the nature and purpose of the consultancy	GST Inclusive Commissioned Cost	Is this Advertising and Market Research (Yes/No)	Expenditure (2003-2004)	Advertising Method (NA if none used)	Tender Document distribution method	Justification for the decision to employ consultancy services
DCON/03/44	19/04/2003	KPMG	Mr Michael Parkinson	Review of NTN Grant Programs	$17,423.01	No	$17,423.01	N/A	N/A	There were no staff within the Department with the specialised skills or knowledge needed to perform the task.
DCON/03/110	18/12/2003	Origin Consulting	Ms Sue McGrath & Mr John Sautelle	Provision of facilitators for community focus groups undertaking the Networking the Nation evaluation	$30,000.00	No	$26,950.00	N/A	eMail	Independent advice was required.
2000/1938	19/08/2003	KPMG	N/A	Review of NTN Grant Programs	$122,439.12	No	$54,392.95	N/A	N/A	Departmental staff with the specialised skills or knowledge needed to perform the task were not available to undertake the work within the required time frame.
DCON/03/073	24/06/2003	Wise Lord and Ferguson	N/A	Audit review of NTN projects	$31,000.00	No	$31,000.00	N/A	N/A	There were no staff within the Department with the specialised skills or knowledge needed to perform the task.

Document ID: 16019 | Last modified: 6 February 2008, 10:01am