The Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) was established in July 2019. The facility uses aid grant funding of up to $500 million, combined with long-term loans of up to $1.5 billion, to support infrastructure development in Pacific countries and Timor-Leste (over seven years). Loans will be disbursed through Export Finance Australia. An advisory board will review proposals, with relevant ministers making final decisions on investments.

An early audit of the AIFFP would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT's) design and inception planning of the facility. This would include an examination of frameworks under which the board has been established and will operate, and the efficacy of DFAT's management of arrangements with Export Finance Australia.

This audit would assess whether the $40 million in grant funding awarded to Fox Sports Australia is being appropriately administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

Grant funding was awarded in 2017 ($30 million) and 2020 ($10 million) to support television and online coverage of under-represented sports. The focus of the audit would be on whether the department has, consistent with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines:

• implemented a grant agreement that has defined grant activity deliverables, scheduled payments according to progress, specified reporting requirements and acquittal procedures that are proportional to the risks involved; and
• appropriately managed the grant agreement to achieve its purpose and secure the anticipated benefits, including through timely adherence to reporting that demonstrates the grant funding is being used as intended and key performance indicators are being met.

This audit would assess Austrade's effectiveness in supporting an expansion in the export of Australian services and in the administration of the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme.

The services sector generates over 70 per cent of Australia's GDP and employs four out of every five Australians, yet trade in services accounted for only 22.3 per cent of Australia's total trade in calendar year 2018. In 2017, Austrade published a strategy to address this, with a particular focus on education, tourism and financial services.

The audit would examine the effectiveness of Austrade's activities to implement its strategy, as well as Austrade's administration of the EMDG scheme, which provides financial assistance to Australian small to medium-sized businesses to support international marketing and promotion activities. A total of $526.4 million has been awarded in grants over the four years to 2018–19.