The Auditor-General, Grant Hehir, delivered a presentation to the 15th Biennial Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees (ACPAC) Conference held at Parliament House, Canberra, on 7 November 2019. The presentation was titled Maintaining Trust in the Parliamentary Process — PACs and Officers of the Parliament.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health’s approach to improving and monitoring immunisation coverage.

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the Department of Home Affairs’ procurement process for the Permissions Capability employed open and effective competition and achieved value for money, consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health’s administration of the Community Health and Hospitals Program.

The audit objective was to assess whether the Australian Government has established an appropriate framework for responding to crises.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the design and implementation of round two of the National Stronger Regions Fund.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office’s administration of annual compliance arrangements with large corporate taxpayers.

The Auditor-General responded on 23 November 2017 to correspondence from Senators Abetz, Paterson and Reynolds dated 27 October 2017, requesting that the Auditor-General undertake an examination of the administration and governance arrangements relating to the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). Following a request from Senator Abetz on 17 January 2018 for a more detailed response, the Auditor-General followed-up on 5 April 2018.

The audit examined agency approaches to the management of intellectual property under its control, and identified themes common to the management of all types of intellectual property. The audit objective was to:

(i) form an opinion on whether Commonwealth agencies have systems in place to efficiently, effectively and ethically manage their intellectual property assets; and

(ii) identify areas for better practice in intellectual property management by those agencies.

The ANAO conducted separate audits of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) Children and Schooling program and the Safety and Wellbeing program, the findings and conclusions of which are presented in this report. The objective of the audits was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s and the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s administration of the IAS Children and Schooling and the Safety and Wellbeing programs.