This audit would examine whether the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has effectively managed nuclear and related scientific assets to support Australia’s international competitiveness in scientific research, innovation and engagement with industry.

ANSTO manages over $1 billion of nuclear and related scientific assets, for which it incurred over $73 million in depreciation in the last financial year. These assets include highly specialised facilities, such as the Open Pool Australian Lightwater (OPAL) nuclear research reactor, the Australian Synchrotron electron accelerator, and nuclear medicine production equipment. These facilities aim to advance Australia’s commercial and scientific interests by employing world-leading technology.

This audit would examine whether Geoscience Australia is providing timely and effective information on the location of bushfires.

The Sentinel Bushfire Monitoring Service is an internet-based mapping tool that provides information about potential bushfire hotspots to emergency service managers and the general public through the use of satellite imagery. It is seen as particularly important when there are multiple fire fronts or large-scale incidents across state and territory borders, as emergency services can draw upon Sentinel when deciding where and how to prioritise resources.

The Sentinel service was developed following the December 2001 and January 2002 bushfires. In 2015, the Australian Government provided additional funding to transform the existing delayed monitoring service into a more responsive emergency management tool for firefighters. Specifically, the additional funding was to be used to increase the frequency of updates from every six hours to every 10 minutes to enable emergency services to monitor fire development in close to real time.