Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the importance of the Auditor-General, who is responsible for auditing Commonwealth entities and reporting to the Parliament, providing crucial accountability and transparency regarding Government administration, and scrutiny of the expenditure of public monies;

(b) that as an independent officer of the Parliament with responsibilities under the Auditor-General Act 1997, the Auditor-General reports not to a minister, but directly to the Parliament via the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit;

(c) that unlike similar entities such as the Parliamentary Budget Office, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) sits within the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio, and the Prime Minister is responsible for administering the legislation and presenting budget bids for the ANAO, which is also subject to directions from the Minister for Finance as an entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; and

(d) the potential conflicts inherent in these arrangements, given the Auditor-General exists to scrutinise the performance and actions of the executive;

(2) declares that independent scrutiny of Government spending to get maximum value for every taxpayer dollar is more important now than ever, given:

(a) the Government is racking up one trillion dollars in debt;

(b) Australia's budget deficit is now at a record high; and

(c) Government spending has blown out to the highest percentage of gross domestic product since 1970, the earliest year that records are available in the budget papers;

(3) further notes that:

(a) the ANAO's budget has been in structural deficit for years because of this Government's cuts, recording unsustainable operating losses of $3 million in 2018-19 and $4 million in 2019-20;

(b) the Auditor-General wrote to the Prime Minister prior to the 2020-21 Budget requesting $6 million in new funding so he could continue to undertake his role, related to the accumulated budget pressures and COVID-19 cost pressures; and

(c) without new funding the Auditor-General is forced to reduce his program of performance audits which is projected to fall rapidly below the longstanding target of 48 performance audits per annum to around 38 per annum;

(4) condemns the Government for its ongoing efforts to hide rorts, waste and corruption from scrutiny and avoid accountability by:

(a) taking revenge on the Auditor-General and making further cuts to the ANAO's budget and staffing, with a $1 million cut to revenue, a reduction in resources of $14 million in 2020-21 and a reduction in the average staffing level allocation; and

(b) failing for years to introduce a National Integrity Commission; and

(5) calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately reverse its cuts to the ANAO's budget and provide the Auditor-General with the funds he has requested, by having the Minister for Finance provide an immediate advance, and making a commitment to boost funding over the forward estimates in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook;

(b) apologise for the Prime Minister's failure to protect and support the independent Auditor General, as the Prime Minister has proven that he cannot be trusted to protect the integrity of the office;

(c) consider introducing legislation to remove the ANAO from the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio and establish the ANAO as a parliamentary department, cementing the Auditor General as a truly independent officer of the Parliament; and

(d) stop stalling and introduce legislation to establish a National Integrity Commission.

Scrutiny of government spending to get maximum value for every dollar is now more important than ever, given Australia's budget deficit is now at a record high and government spending has blown out under this mob to the highest percentage of GDP since 1970, which is as far back as you can go in the budget papers. So, while this motion might sound nerdy and niche, it really matters. Sticking up for the Auditor-General should not be controversial, and the motion simply reaffirms the importance of the Auditor-General and calls on the government to reverse its budget cuts and stop taking revenge on the Audit Office for doing their job well.

The Auditor-General is a critical part of the Commonwealth's integrity architecture. It turns the blowtorch on government expenditure and performance, and it's made even more important by the government's complete failure to introduce a national integrity commission. Indeed, the Audit Office is one of the few independent watchdogs with real teeth to scrutinise government performance.

It'll never be always comfortable for any government, but most audits are uncontroversial. Every now and again a scandal emerges, but, generally, that's not common, except under this Liberal government. They're rife with graft. There have been the sports rorts, where hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds were funnelled to Liberal Party marginal seats in a dodgy process in the minister's office. There have been airport land rorts. They paid $30 million for land worth $3 million. Liberal mates have run riot in ASIC, racking up bills and personal expenses. Billions of dollars have been wasted on consultant mates.

Taxpayers rely on the Auditor-General to uncover waste and misuse of public money, but to do his job the Auditor-General must be properly funded. The ANAO's budget has been in structural deficit for years because of this government's cuts, budget after budget. He recorded unsustainable losses over the last two years of $3.1 million and 4.8 million. So the Auditor-General wrote to the Prime Minister requesting $6.3 million in new funding in his budget just so he could keep doing his job. Disgracefully, instead of giving the Auditor-General the funding he needs, the Prime Minister took more revenge and made more cuts to the ANAO, getting his own back for sports rorts—a $1.28 million cut to revenue, a reduction in overall resources of $14 million and another cut to staffing.

The oldest trick in the book of governments worldwide who want to shut down scrutiny is to starve the integrity agencies of funds. The Prime Minister has the result he wanted: the number of performance audits will now fall well below the longstanding bipartisan target of about 48 per year, which has been there under successive governments, to about 38—a 20 per cent cut.

The Prime Minister, in question time, has tried to spin the issue and has said, 'Oh, well. It's not really a deliberate plan. His resourcing will be considered in the 10-year review by the JCPAA.' That is ridiculous and misleading. That's a 10-year review of the Auditor-General's legislation, not of his budget; that's the government's responsibility. Only the Prime Minister and the government can give the Audit Office more money. That's in the Constitution. The committee can't give him more money; only the government can.

But, make no mistake, this is just the latest attack on the ANAO. Since the Liberals were elected over seven years ago, the Auditor-General's budget, as of this year, has been cut by 18.3 per cent in real terms, and, shockingly, this latest nasty little budget bakes in more cuts. Four years from now, the ANAO's budget will have been cut by 22.1 per cent in real terms since the marketing department over there was elected to government. They're not my figures; that's the Parliamentary Library's analysis. But it's not a matter of money. They're racking up $1 trillion dollars of Liberal debt but they pretend they can't find $6.7 million for the Audit Office. That is a false economy if ever there was one.

This is a sustained attack on democracy. It is trying to avoid scrutiny and accountability for the Liberals own rorts, waste, pork-barrelling and graft. I call on the government to immediately reverse its cuts to the Auditor-General's budget. This should not be a partisan issue. If the government fails to restore funding to the ANAO before the next election, then I believe the opposition of which I am a member must commit to doing so, because integrity matters. I also call out Liberal government members of the JCPAA. I see the chair of the JCPAA here. I get on well with the chair, but I really call out the Liberal government members of the JCPAA for not standing up. Where have they been out there publicly defending the Auditor-General, doing their job as an audit committee, and sticking up for the independent Audit Office? It's just not good enough.

Given that the Prime Minister has proven that he can't be trusted to protect the Auditor-General, it's time that the parliament took the ANAO off him, took it out of his portfolio. We should legislate to establish the Audit Office as a parliamentary department, cementing the Auditor-General as a truly independent officer of the parliament, just like the Parliamentary Budget Officer or the Clerk. Frankly, I'd trust the Speaker and the President of the Senate more than I'd trust this Prime Minister to stick up for the Auditor-General.

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