House debates

Monday, 22 June 2009

Committees

Public Accounts and Audit Committee; Report

9:13 pm

Photo of Sharon GriersonSharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present the committee’s report entitled Report 414: Review of Auditor-General’s reports tabled between August 2007 and August 2008.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, as prescribed by the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951, examines all reports of the Auditor-General and reports the results of the committee’s deliberations to the parliament.

This report details the findings of the committee’s examination of five performance audits tabled in 2007 and 2008. These five reports were selected for further scrutiny from the 54 audit reports presented to the parliament between that period.

As usual, these reports cover a range of agencies and highlight a number of areas of concern. Two themes which repeatedly recur are the need to document processes and procedures to better understand and manage risk and the need for staff training to ensure more effective and efficient use of existing systems.

The committee reviewed an audit report assessing how four departments are implementing the change to a whole-of-government approach to the delivery of Indigenous services. While the committee was satisfied overall with the progress being made, we feel that the process can be improved. Accordingly, we recommend that the risks and challenges identified be documented and that staff training programs be developed to increase awareness of these risks. Further, the committee would like to see an action plan developed and published to track improvements in Indigenous life expectancy.

As a result of the investigation into the Australian government’s two natural resource management programs, we identified the need for a clear set of procedures to ensure state and territory compliance with bilateral agreements. The committee acknowledges the difficulties inherent in operating these diverse programs but is concerned with ongoing and recurring problems in monitoring and reporting. We are therefore requesting a progress report from the relevant departments detailing implementation of both the ANAO and committee recommendations.

The committee reviewed the completeness and reliability of the estimates reported in the Taxation Expenditures Statement 2006. To improve the quality of the tax expenditure statement, we recommend that Treasury include two additional pieces of information: calculations regarding the 20 largest tax expenditures using both the revenue forgone and revenue gained methods to allow comparison with the budget papers, and information on the extent to which tax expenditure reporting has improved through the receipt of reliable data from other agencies. We also suggest that Treasury investigate the Canadian model of taxation expenditure reporting to determine whether it provides a more complete picture of public and parliamentary scrutiny.

In this batch of reports, we followed up on the previous examination of Centrelink’s management of customer debt undertaken previously in 2004-05. We were pleased to see that the audit report found that Centrelink had successfully implemented the majority of the recommendations from both the previous ANAO report and the subsequent JCPAA inquiry. However, there are still inconsistencies across the network and the committee recommends that Centrelink identify regions that have been particularly successful in managing debt, examine their processes and implement best practice methods across the network. Of primary concern to the committee was Centrelink’s ageing debt base. We have asked Centrelink to conduct a review to determine the reasons why the debt base continues to age and report back to the committee.

Finally, the committee looked at the audit report assessing the regulatory function of the Australian Communications and Media Authority under the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005. We found that ACMA’s complaints-handling process is ad hoc and lacks systematic methods, and recommend that ACMA reform its complaints-handling processes to ensure a more efficient and faster handling of complaints. We urge ACMA to complete development of a complaints-handling manual and recommend the introduction of  a formal training program for all staff handling complaints which would incorporate effective use of the ACMA information management system database.

I would like to acknowledge the valuable work of the Auditor-General and the staff at the Australian National Audit Office. We look forward to continuing reviews of the Auditor-General’s reports. I would also acknowledge the valuable work of the secretariat in assisting us in this inquiry and report—our secretary, Russell Schaeffer; Dr Narelle McClusky, who has joined us; and particularly Shane Armstrong. This is the first report we have worked on together, Shane, and I thank you for your enthusiasm.

Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues on the committee of the 42nd parliament for the work they have undertaken in completing this review of the Auditor-General’s reports. I commend the report to the House.