The audit would assess the effectiveness of Department of Finance’s administration of coordinated procurement arrangements and procurements of goods or services by selected entities.

Coordinated procurement arrangements are established for commonly used goods or services by the Commonwealth, to realise efficiencies in process, price, service and quality for the Commonwealth. Arrangements managed by the Department of Finance include travel, government advertising, management advisory services and property services.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, to determine how government agencies work together to detect, resolve and prevent fraud and serious organised crime in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and other government programs.

The Fraud Fusion Taskforce is a multi-agency partnership working to disrupt fraud and criminal activity, including serious and organised crime. The Fraud Fusion Taskforce commenced in November 2022, co-led by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and Services Australia, with 21 other government agencies including the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. In the October 2022–23 Federal Budget $126.3 million was allocated over four years to establish the taskforce. In the 2024–25 Budget additional funding of $23.5 million over two years was provided to Services Australia.

This audit would assess the effectiveness (including cost effectiveness) of efforts to grow the care and support workforce, including the coordination of workforce strategies across the Australian Government.

In September 2021, the National Skills Commission released a report which noted that multiple federal and state and territory government program areas (aged care, disability support, veteran care and mental health care) draw upon a common pool of care and support workers, and that multiple workforce strategies exist in relation to this pool. In 2023, the Australian Government established a Care and Support Economy Taskforce and a draft National Care and Support Economy Strategy (the draft Strategy). The draft Strategy notes that the care and support economy is one of the fastest growing parts of the Australian economy and faces enormous projected demand. The draft Strategy states that it complements the substantial work already being undertaken in each of the aged care, disability support, veterans’ care and early childhood education and care sectors, by developing whole-of-system solutions.

The draft Strategy notes that ‘More nuanced approaches to market stewardship are required in thin markets, and across the care and support economy, to ensure people have access to the care and support they need’. The capability review of the Department of Health and Aged Care (endorsed in July 2023) found that systemic consideration of the health and aged care workforce is an area for improvement. The 2023 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Review made 26 recommendations, including to the Australian Government to develop an integrated approach to workforce development in the care and support sector.

In the 2024–25 Budget, funding was allocated to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to help deliver on reforms relating to the care and support economy. As at April 2025, the draft national Strategy has not been finalised, the Taskforce has been disbanded and a Care and Support and Aged Care Branch has been established in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing published a National Nursing Workforce Strategy in December 2024.