25-10-2005 - Proposed Programme Budget for the Biennium 2006-2007 - Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

New York

Permanent Mission address: 150 East 42 Street, Level 33, New York, New York 10017 - Telephone: 1 212 351 6600 - Fax: 1 212 351 6610

United Nations General Assembly: Fifth Committee
25 October 2005

Item 124. Proposed Programme Budget for the Biennium 2006-2007

Statement by H.E. John Dauth, LVO
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations

On behalf of Canada, New Zealand and Australia

Mr Chairman,

I have the honour today to speak on behalf of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Secretary-General,

Thank you for introducing your proposed programme budget for 2006-2007. We also appreciate the introduction by Mr Rajat Saha of the report of the ACABQ. The ACABQ has maintained its high standard of analysis and its report will contribute to the thorough treatment of the budget and its proposals. We thank the Vice Chairman of the CPC, Mr Yoo Dae-jong, for his comments.

Secretary-General,

Your tenure has been marked by the determination to equip the United Nations to respond to the evolving requirements of its membership. The two years since you showed us the “fork in the road” have challenged us all to make the changes required. The journey is still in progress, but we thank you for the momentum you have imparted.

Through this budget proposal, the forthcoming revised estimates for the implementation of Summit outcomes, and the other unfinished business commissioned by our leaders in September this year, the General Assembly in the coming months has the opportunity to implement changes required for this Organization to be a more potent force for development, the protection of human rights, humanitarian action, and the prevention of and recovery from conflict. The work done in this Committee on the resource and management dimensions will be pivotal, so that we modernize not only what we do, but how we do it.

Secretary-General,

You have already initiated an important programme of management improvement within the Secretariat. Our responsibility as member states for the governance of the United Nations requires us to carry these further. Four broad themes command our attention.
Strengthening public confidence comes first. With assessed budgets poised to scale $7.5 billion annually, our publics need to know that the resources they provide are well spent, and with integrity. Planned measures to strengthen the ethics function, prevent conflicts of interest, and to require honourable conduct are fundamental building blocks. They need to be supported by strengthened, capable and independent oversight. We look forward to your proposals for accomplishing this. I must add that we expect nothing less than the aggressive implementation by the United Nations of its policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse, wherever it occurs. The welcome new measures to enhance the ethical culture of the UN need to be matched with appropriate and visible sanctions where instances of unethical behaviour are identified.

A second priority theme is transparency and accountability. We need to sharpen our focus on results. A key improvement would be to allocate resources to substantive purposes rather than to administrative structures, as we do now. More broadly, as the ACABQ notes, results based budgeting is not just incremental budgeting nor is it a paper exercise; it is a comprehensive management tool which encourages productivity, efficiency, accountability and better human resource management. Transparancy also requires review of the budget methodology to ensure that the full costs of proposals are not obscured and that non-recurrent outlays do not unwittingly become part of the budget baseline

Commitment to an improved accountability regime starts with action to disentangle the respective roles of the Secretary-General and the General Assembly. Once Member States have specified the results we seek, the Secretary-General requires managerial discretion in how he goes about it. How else can he be held accountable?

Accountability is hollow unless responsibilities, incentives and sanctions for managers and staff alike are defined. And human resource management is arbitrary until indicators of achievement and performance measures are applied in a transparent and consistent manner. But we need also to look beyond the performance of individuals. Our tools for assessing programme performance do not tell us much about what has been accomplished.

Our third preoccupation is to move beyond the practice of incremental budgeting which adds layers of new activities over old. Over the years we have stressed the need to have a big picture view of resource prioritisation and allocation; and of the need to discontinue outdated activities in favour of actions that reflect comtemporary needs. The forthcoming review of older mandates can help us in this respect, but there is no substitute for the ongoing responsibility of managers to assess the relevance and impact of what they are doing. To apply an Organization-wide lens to resource planning, we will need to overcome the silo approach which prevails in the Secretariat.

Fourth, but not least, is our fundamental commitment to budgetary rigour, discipline and control. Assessed budgets are escalating rapidly. The budget the Secretary-General has introduced is not the last word; a substantial further proposal is on the way to implement our shared vision. The budget and the revised estimates will need to be examined in association with each other. We look forward to working with others to prioritise the work at hand.

The growth in resource demands intensifies the importance of seeking efficiency and productivity. We were disappointed, therefore, that the freeze on recruitment of General Service staff did not trigger the review of administrative processes that had been hoped for. Given the large part of the budget that is devoted to admnistrative functions of one kind or another, it is imperative to develop better tools to assess and benchmark efficiency. We hope that the work underway on the applicability of cost accounting in the United Nations will help us.
Our delegations are second to none in advocating the necessary managerial authority for the Secretary-General. We eagerly look forward to the Secretary-General’s proposals on conditions and measures necessary for him to carry out his management responsibilities effectively. But we are disappointed that the opportunity for the Secretary-General to exercise more flexibility with resources, specifically to redeploy 50 posts, was not fully implemented. We encourage the Secretary-General to exercise his authority fully, as also recommended by the ACABQ.

Mr. Chairman,

During the forthcoming consultations, our delegations will have the opportunity to set out views on the specific elements of the budgetary proposals. CANZ is looking forward to working closely with member states and the Secretariat in securing the foundation for the United Nations to tackle our work. We are doubtless all seized of this opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in an increasingly challenging world