The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the department's administration of general recurrent grants paid to the States and Territories for government schools. To achieve this, the ANAO assessed whether the department:

• paid the correct amount of general recurrent grants to the States and Territories;
• effectively managed the agreements with the States and Territories; and
• monitored progress towards achieving the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century.

The sale of leases for the 14 Phase 2 Federal airports was completed by 30 June 1998, in accordance with the Government's timetable. This represented a significant achievement given that it constituted the largest completed airport trade sales program in the world to that date and achieved the Government's sales objectives.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of FaHCSIA's management of the Australian Government's responsibilities under the NPARSD. In this respect the ANAO considered whether:

• planning processes enabled effective establishment of the remote service delivery model;
• implementation of the key elements of the remote service delivery model effectively addressed the quality and timing requirements of the NPARSD; and
• performance measurement systems were developed to enable the parties to the agreement to assess whether the NPARSD objectives are being met.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the department's administration of general recurrent grants for non-government schools. The audit examined key processes in the department's administration ofgeneral recurrent grants for non-government schools for 2005–08 in accordance with the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004.

This audit is one of a series of fraud control audits undertaken by the ANAO. The audit focussed on Centrelink's arrangements for the prevention, detection and treatment of incorrect payments to its customers. The objective of the audit was to assess whether Centrelink had implemented appropriate fraud control arrangements in line with the Fraud Control Policy of the Commonwealth.

The audit was conducted as a joint financial statement and performance audit of DVA's Information Technology (IT) systems. The objective of the financial statement component of the audit was to express an opinion on whether DVA could rely on its IT systems to support production of a reliable set of financial information for the financial statements. The objective of the performance audit component was to determine whether DVA's IT systems outputs adequately met quality and service delivery targets.

In late 1996, the Government announced its commitment to establish new facilities for the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies on Acton Peninsula in Canberra. The objectives of the audit were to examine the project's compliance with the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines for the procurement of public works and effectiveness of the project's management.

Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the 2009 Brookes Oration Deakin Business School, Deakin University

The objective of the audit was to examine Defence's management of leases that have resulted from property sale and leaseback transactions. Leases subject to review were for a period of ten or more years and included the following six properties: the Defence Plazas in Sydney and Melbourne; the Hydrographic Office Wollongong; DNSDC Moorebank; Campbell Park Offices in Canberra; and ADC Weston Creek in Canberra. The audit examined the process for identifying the properties for sale and leaseback and the sale approval process. The audit sought to determine the basis on which the properties were proposed for sale and leaseback and the financial impact for the Government. The audit also reviewed the lease terms and conditions to determine whether they protect the Government's interests, and examined Defence's management of commitments arising from the leases.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether selected Commonwealth organisations had utilised better practice principles when establishing the role, and managing the use of their internal audit groups. In order to evaluate internal audit, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) first considered the status and accountabilities of internal audit within the overall governance framework of the organisations audited, in particular its accountabilities to the audit committee.