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

Now I wish to make a statement on behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit concerning the draft budget estimates for the Australian National Audit Office and the Parliamentary Budget Office for 2022-23. On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present this statement on the draft budget estimates of the Australian National Audit Office, the ANAO, and the Parliamentary Budget Office, the PBO.

The committee is required, under the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951 and the Parliamentary Service Act 1999, to consider the draft budget estimates of both the ANAO and the PBO and to make formal recommendations to both houses of parliament regarding these estimates. This requirement, to make a statement to the parliament in advance of the budget being handed down by a government, is an important transparency measure. It will assist the parliament and the public in making a judgement, tonight and thereafter, on the adequacy of the budget provided to the ANAO and the PBO through a comparison with the requested funding and the committee's recommendations.

For this year's budget, both the ANAO and the PBO have sought additional funding. The committee has carefully scrutinised the ANAO's and the PBO's draft budget estimates and has resolved to endorse them, subject to further review of the costings and final estimates which may be agreed with the Department of Finance. The committee considers both offices vital in supporting the work of this parliament and in strengthening integrity and transparency in public administration.

The ANAO is also seeking an additional appropriation. In presenting its draft budget estimates to the committee, the ANAO noted that machinery-of-government changes following the 2022 federal election—in particular, the creation of new departments—will mean that minor additional costs are incurred for mandatory financial statement and performance statement audits. There are additional cost pressures relating to cybersecurity and data storage, as well as financial statement auditing, where specialist expertise, for additional capacity, is required to be purchased from the private sector.

Now, the total funding request—which is still, of course, subject to a bit of further refinement with the Department of Finance since we last interrogated it—was in the order of $8.3 million over the forward estimates. The JCPAA acknowledges the difficult fiscal outlook faced by, and inherited by, the government, and acknowledges that the ANAO received supplementation in the 2021-22 budget. However, the committee accepts that these cost pressures presented to us are unavoidable and that the additional funding is required to maintain required standards in financial statement auditing, without which the ANAO would be confronted with the need to reduce the level of auditing in other areas.

In the committee's view, the government stands to save more than it spends by meeting the ANAO's modest request. A robust audit function is of critical value to the public sector, driving, as it does, efficiency and effectiveness throughout the public sector. In that context, the JCPAA endorses the ANAO's budget submission, which, as I said, would be subject to any normal parameter changes and minor changes that might be agreed with the Department of Finance and the government, if the government is indeed to fund it.

Finally, the PBO's estimated expenses for 2022-23 amounted to $9.292 million and it expects to meet the majority of its fiscal requirements from this appropriation. However, since its creation, the PBO has had a special appropriation fund designed to help it meet unexpected cost pressures. This fund was initially $6 million but has run down to $1.8 million over the last decade. The PBO is seeking to have this fund replenished to its original level in this year's budget, and I note that that is its 10th anniversary. The committee regards the fund as an important element of the PBO's operational independence, including independence from executive government, and therefore endorses the proposed appropriation.

I thank the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Budget Officer for their work in support of the parliament and the JCPAA, and committee members for their thoughtful and detailed consideration of these budget requests. I present a copy of my statement. There you go—I'm done. Thank you.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Bruce, you just need to seek leave to present a copy of the statement.

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

Since you ask so nicely, Deputy Speaker, I seek leave to present a copy of my statement.

Leave granted.

It's an outbreak of collegiality! You see, I bring people together; I raise the tone!