The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's (DCCEEW) corporate plan as its primary planning document in accordance with the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

This annual report documents the performance of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in the financial year ended on 30 June 2019. The report addresses all applicable obligations under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014; the Auditor-General Act 1997; the performance measures set out in the outcome and programs framework in the ANAO’s Portfolio Budget Statements 2018–19 and the ANAO Corporate Plan 2018–19, and annual reporting requirements set out in other relevant legislation.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the development and administration of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA), and the extent to which the 5CPA has met its objectives.

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the National Disability Insurance Agency has appropriate controls to ensure supports in participant plans are ‘reasonable and necessary’.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the administration of the Gateway review process by Finance and FMA Act agencies. The audit also examined the extent to which those Gateway reviews that have been conducted have contributed to improvements in the delivery of major projects undertaken by FMA Act agencies.

The objective of the audit was to evaluate the Tax Office's corporate management of data matching, including analytics.

The ANAO examined the Tax Office's strategic goals and governance arrangements for data matching and analytics, its compliance with privacy requirements and whether the Tax Office is achieving intended results, which include revenue collection, optimised compliance and provision of improved services to taxpayers.

Tax Office executives have been increasingly drawing on the interrelationships and conceptual commonalities of Tax Office data matching and analytics activity. Accordingly, the audit included these relationships and conceptual commonalities within the scope of the audit. The audit was guided, therefore, by a broader definition of ‘data matching': meaning ‘finding relationships and patterns in large volumes of data'. This includes the more traditional idea of data matching as ‘bringing together data from different sources and comparing it'.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s design process and implementation to date of the Defence Export Strategy.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications’ design and implementation of measures to support the aviation sector in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Auditor-General responded on 9 May 2016 to correspondence from Ms Catherine King MP on 22 April 2016 regarding comments made by Ms Sophie Mirabella in relation to Commonwealth funding for Wangaratta Hospital.

The Auditor-General responded on 6 April 2016 to correspondence from Senator Hanson-Young on 30 March 2016 regarding Refugee resettlement deal established between the Commonwealth Government of Australia and the Kingdom of Cambodia in September of 2014.

The Auditor-General (A/g) responded on 15 September 2015 to correspondence from the Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP on 11 September 2015 regarding Murray-Darling Basin Authority's (MDBA) implementation of the Basin Plan.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO's) Gift to the Science and Industry Endowment Fund.

The Auditor-General responded on 2 December 2016 to correspondence from Senator the Hon Stephen Parry, President of the Senate, on 14 October 2016, regarding a resolution agreed by the Senate requesting that the Auditor-General conduct a performance audit assessing the procurement of services related to the National Cancer Screening Register.

The Auditor-General responded on 8 September 2015 to correspondence from Senator Lee Rhiannon on 10 August 2015 regarding the WestConnex road building project in NSW.

This audit examined the effectiveness of the National Archives of Australia’s implementation of the Building Trust policy and selected entities’ management of information assets (records, information and data).

The audit objective was to examine whether the design and conduct of the procurement process for delivery partners for the Entrepreneurs’ Programme complied with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, and whether the signed contracts are being appropriately managed.

The Auditor-General responded on 27 June 2017 to correspondence from Mr Andrew Wilkie MP dated 26 May 2017, requesting that the Auditor-General conduct an audit of Centrelink's automated debt recovery programs.

The Auditor-General (A/g) responded on 23 September 2015 to correspondence from Mr Tim Watts MP on 28 August 2015 regarding Liberal Party misappropriation of parliamentary entitlements.

The Auditor-General (A/g) responded on 23 September 2015 to correspondence from Ms Julie Collins MP on 1 September 2015 regarding parliamentary entitlements paid to Liberal MPs and Senators.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of Centrelink's approach to investigating and responding to external fraud. The ANAO's assessment was based on four key criteria. In particular, the ANAO assessed whether Centrelink:

• had established a management framework, business systems and guidelines, that support the investigation, prosecution and reporting of fraud;
• had implemented appropriate case selection strategies and controls to ensure resources are targeted to the cases of highest priority;
• complied with relevant external and internal requirements when investigating fraud and referring cases for consideration of prosecution; and
• had implemented an effective training program that supports high quality investigations and prosecution referrals.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether APS agencies had sound approaches to recruitment, to assist in providing the workforce capability to deliver government programs effectively. Sound approaches to recruitment involve agencies:

• establishing and implementing strategic approaches to recruitment to address current and future workforce priorities and goals;
• managing and supporting recruitment activities through the provision of expert advice and support, legislative and procedural guidance material, and training for staff involved in recruitment activities;
• conducting recruitment activities effectively and in compliance with legislative and administrative requirements; and
• systematically monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of recruitment strategies, policies and activities.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 establishes a scheme to confiscate proceeds of crime and allows for confiscated proceeds of crime to be re-invested in programs for relevant purposes, including crime prevention and law enforcement. Auditor-General Report No. 43 2016–17 Proceeds of Crime concluded that:

• effective processes had been established by the Attorney-General’s Department to identify the possible use of funds from the Confiscated Assets Account;
• appropriate advice was being provided to the Minister to inform decision-making; and
• the main beneficiaries of funding from the Confiscated Assets Account have been Commonwealth criminal intelligence or law enforcement entities with significant funds also approved for non-government, community organisations or local council’s projects, including through the Safer Streets Programme (examined in Auditor-General Report No. 41 2014–15 The Award of Funding under the Safer Streets Programme). In addition, the initial allocation to the Safer Communities Fund (examined in Auditor-General Report No. 16 2021–22) included unspent Safer Streets program funding (sourced from the Confiscated Asset Fund, under the Proceeds of Crime Act).

This audit would examine the processes through which funding allocations are identified, the appropriateness of the advice provided by the Attorney-General’s Department to inform funding decisions.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Finance’s administration of the governance and accountability framework for Government Business Enterprises (GBE), including its support and advice to the Minister for Finance, who is a GBE shareholder minister. The audit may also review entities’ implementation of framework requirements and expectations set out in the GBE guidelines.

A GBE is a Commonwealth entity or Commonwealth company that is prescribed pursuant to the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and related Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014. Nine GBEs have been prescribed. Two GBEs are corporate Commonwealth entities: Australian Postal Corporation; and Defence Housing Australia. Seven GBEs are Commonwealth companies: ASC Pty Limited; Australian Naval Infrastructure Pty Ltd; Australian Rail Track Corporation Limited; National Intermodal Corporation Limited; NBN Co Limited; Snowy Hydro Limited; and WSA Co Limited. The Department of Finance provides advice to the Australian Government relating to its GBEs and other commercial entities.

This audit would assess the Department of Finance’s and other selected entities’ administration of the Assurance Review framework, including the implementation readiness assessment and gateway review process for the delivery of major programs and projects. The framework is designed to strengthen governance and assurance practices and play an important role in assisting entities to successfully deliver major programs and projects.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority in responding to financial scams in Australia.

Scams are a growing threat to Australian consumers and businesses, with financial losses to scams reported to be at least $3.1 billion in 2022 (an 80 per cent increase on losses recorded in 2021). In 2022, 65 per cent of Australians were exposed to a scam attempt. Since 1 July 2023, the National-Anti Scam Centre has been set up in the ACCC, which aims to link government organisations and Australians. The audit would examine whether the entities properly discharged their responsibilities responding to scams and whether they effectively coordinated efforts where appropriate.

This audit would assess the design and governance underpinning the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s and the Attorney-General’s Department’s joint establishment of an independent National Justice Reinvestment Unit and the effectiveness of the early delivery of up to 30 community-led justice reinvestment initiatives.

Targets 10 and 11 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap relate to reducing adult and youth incarceration rates for First Nations peoples. The Attorney-General’s Department describes justice reinvestment as ‘a long-term, community-led approach that aims to prevent crime, address the drivers of contact with the justice system, and improve justice outcomes for First Nations people in a particular place or community’. Around $100m was announced for investments in community-led justice reinvestment initiatives and First Nations-led legal assistance services in the 2022–23 Federal Budget. This included $81.5 million over four years for justice reinvestment initiatives to be delivered in partnership with First Nations communities, plus $20 million per year from 2026–27. In the 2023–24 Federal Budget, the Australian Government committed an additional $10 million over four years to support place-based justice reinvestment partnerships located in the Central Australia region of the Northern Territory, under the $250 million plan for A Better, Safer Future for Central Australia.

The audit would assess the delivery of outcomes achieved by selected entities as intended by government approved New Policy Proposals.

This audit would assess whether the Department of Education effectively administers higher education funding, including gaining assurance that funding is spent in accordance with legislation, and measuring the impact of funding.

Higher education providers are estimated to receive $10.9 billion in 2023–24 in Australian Government funding for education (not including research funding), largely via grants administered by the Department of Education — the largest of these is the Commonwealth Grant Scheme, which will provide an estimated $7.6 billion in funding for domestic student fees in 2023–24.

This audit would examine the Department of Social Services’ (the department’s) design and implementation of performance measures and evaluation planning for the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 (National Plan).

The National Plan was launched in October 2022 and sets the national policy agenda for addressing violence against women and children in Australia for the next 10 years. The Australian Government has committed $2.23 billion over six years (2022–23 to 2027–28) to deliver the outcomes of the National Plan and related women’s safety initiatives. Two actions plans, outlining actions for Commonwealth, state and territory governments, have been developed to support the implementation of the National Plan: the First Action Plan 2023–2027; and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan. The National Plan is also supported by the Outcomes Framework 2023–2032 which links actions outlined in the action plans to outcomes. The department has primary responsibility for the National Plan, including policy development and program and service design. The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission is responsible for ensuring activities and initiatives by governments are appropriately aligned and collaborative, and for providing annual reports to Parliament on progress against the National Plan.

The audit would assess the effectiveness of the design and implementation of the National Housing Accord and the Housing Australian Future Fund.

The National Housing Accord is an agreement between all levels of government, institutional investors and the construction sectors. It aims to increase the supply of housing with: ‘an initial, aspirational target of delivering a total of one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024; and immediate and longer-term actions for all parties to support the delivery of more affordable homes’.

The Housing Australia Future Fund was established in November 2023. It is a $10 billion investment fund managed by the Future Fund Board. The income generated by the fund is expected to provide funding to deliver 20,000 new social and 10,000 affordable homes over five years. Housing Australia is responsible for administering the majority of disbursements from the fund through the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility.

The Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) require that, in order to draw the market’s early attention to potential opportunities, each entity must maintain on AusTender a current procurement plan containing a short strategic procurement outlook. Entity procurement plans are also to include the subject matter of any significant planned procurement and the estimated publication date of the approach to market. Plans are to be updated regularly throughout the year. As at November 2023, 52% of the 133 reporting entities had not updated their procurement plans in over two years. Of the 3,752 open tenders published on AusTender between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2023, 799 (21.3%) were reported as having been included in an Annual Procurement Plan.

This audit would examine the preparation of entity procurement plans and their effectiveness, including by analysing the extent to which significant procurements conducted had been included in the relevant annual procurement plan.

The goal of the $250 million Emerging Markets Impact Investment Fund (EMIIF) is to help address access to finance challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South and South East Asia. It invests in funds and other financial intermediaries that in turn invest in early and growth stage SMEs with investments in the range of USD5,000 to USD2 million. The May 2023–24 Federal Budget measure that increased the size of the EMIIF stated that the majority of assistance would be provided via equity and loans (rather than grants), the cost of which will be met from Australia’s existing Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding.

EMIIF is an investment trust with DFAT as the sole beneficiary. Day to day management is undertaken by the investment manager appointed by DFAT and investment decision making is undertaken by the investment committee appointed by DFAT, as well as representatives from the investment manager. The design of EMIIF was intended to enable appropriate DFAT oversight by a DFAT delegate for the EMIIF being responsible for making any contractual and strategic decisions, who would be advised by an SES-level Impact Investing Advisory Group to provide advice, guidance and support regarding the overall direction and implementation of EMIIF and DFAT’s other impact investing programs. In addition, a Secretariat within DFAT is responsible for the day-to-day management of EMIIF, including interaction with counterparties to monitor ongoing performance, disseminate information and prepare relevant reporting to the advisory group or decision-makers.

The audit would examine DFAT’s establishment and oversight of the EMIIF.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of Defence’s establishment and management of the Major Service Provider (MSP) Panel.

The MSP Agreement 2018–2026 was established to facilitate the engagement and management of large, long-term, multi-discipline and integrated work packages across the air, land and maritime capability domains. Defence selected four consortia (comprising 13 companies) as MSPs under the panel arrangements, which commenced in February 2018. AusTender data as at December 2023 indicated that the four MSPs had been awarded 351 contracts with a reported total value of $4.47 billion since the commencement of the panel in February 2018.

The audit would assess the administration of procurement on the construction and development of the National Security Office precinct.

The Department of Finance is leading the development of a National Security Office Precinct (Precinct) at the York Park in Barton, ACT. The Precinct will provide a permanent solution to the critical accommodation and capability requirements of several national security and other Commonwealth agencies. The Precinct is expected to accommodate up to 5,000 workers.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of the allocation of funding for assistive technology supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), including how the NDIA assesses these supports as reasonable and necessary for each participant and manages associated fraud risks.

Assistive technology is a support category for devices, mobility aides, software, equipment, vehicle modifications or animals that assist people with disability to do things more easily, safely or independently. Funding for assistive technology under the NDIS must meet ‘reasonable and necessary’ decision criteria. In the twelve months to 30 September 2023, assistive technology accounted for 3 per cent ($1.4 billion) of annualised committed supports in current participant plans.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of Services Australia’s management of automated decision making. Automation can support timely, efficient and consistent decision making. The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s 2019 Better Practice Guide on Automated Decision-Making and the Australian Government’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics Principles provide entities with guidance on key principles for the design, implementation and monitoring of automated decision-making processes.

The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme report of 7 July 2023 highlighted risks relating to automation, particularly where the automated processes remove any element of human decision-making and limit citizen’s ability to challenge the decision. The Australian Government accepted the Royal Commission’s recommendation relating to introducing a consistent legal framework for automated decision-making. In the response to the Privacy Act Review Report released on 28 September 2023, the Australian Government agreed to increase the transparency and integrity of decisions made using automated decision-making that uses personal information.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s management of biosecurity risks for goods.

The Biosecurity Act 2015 provides the department with powers that may be exercised to assess the level of biosecurity risk for goods subject to biosecurity control, and measures that may be taken if the level of risk is deemed to be unacceptable.

This audit would examine the Department of Social Services’ (the department’s) management of its Data Exchange (DEX) performance reporting portal.

DEX is a web portal that allows providers receiving government funding to report on program outputs (such as the number of clients assisted) and outcomes (such as improvements in clients’ health and wellbeing). It is underpinned by three principles: providers should spend less time collecting and reporting administrative data and more time helping clients; data collection should focus on client outcomes; and client personal information and privacy is protected. The department uses DEX as the data source for three corporate plan performance measures under its Families and Communities and Disability and Carers programs. DEX has also been extended to other Commonwealth and state government programs, including grant programs delivered through DSS’s Community Grants Hub. While the department is responsible for managing DEX, Services Australia has operated the portal since 2021 as part of its delivery of shared ICT services for the department.

The audit will assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Aged Care’s (Health’s) approach to health provider compliance, including its response to the 2023 Independent Review of Medicare Integrity and Compliance. The audit will also examine the Professional Services Review Scheme, which investigates Medicare-referred cases of possible inappropriate practice in relation to Medicare, Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Health has policy responsibility for Medicare, the CDBS and the PBS. Through its Health Benefit Compliance Program, the department aims to support the integrity of health benefit claims through prevention, early identification and treatment of incorrect claiming, inappropriate practice and fraud. Auditor-General Report No. 17 2020–21 Managing Health Provider Compliance found that the department’s approach to health provider compliance was partially effective, due in part to a lack of risk-based compliance planning and monitoring of compliance outcomes. The Independent Review of Medicare Integrity and Compliance (the Philip Review), completed in March 2023, made a number of recommendations to strengthen the integrity of the Medicare system and its health provider compliance mechanisms. In the 2023–24 Federal Budget Health received $29.8 million to establish a taskforce to respond to the review’s recommendations. In the 2024–25 Budget, Health received $18.1 million over four years to extend and expand the government’s response to the Philip Review.

This audit would assess how the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) monitors and assesses outcomes for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants and uses that data to assess the effectiveness of NDIS funded supports, supports the maintenance of the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) and informs continuous improvement of NDIA processes.

The 2024–25 Federal Budget provided $45.5 million over four years (and $13.3 million per year ongoing) to establish a NDIS Evidence Advisory Committee to provide advice to government on the efficacy and cost-benefits of types of supports funded by the NDIS, aimed at improving outcomes and ensuring better value for participants.

This audit would examine the stand up and early implementation of the Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs), including the selection of locations and providers for UCCs, and the establishment of performance measures and monitoring arrangements to enable the Department of Health and Aged Care to ensure UCCs are achieving their intended outcomes.

In the 2023–24 Federal Budget, the Australian Government announced $358.5 million over five years from 2022–23 to establish 58 UCCs. The UCCs aimed to reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments and make it easier for Australian families to see a doctor or a nurse when they require urgent but not life-threatening care. All UCCs were to be open during extended business hours, with no appointments required, and no out-of-pocket costs for patients. In the 2024–25 Federal Budget, the government announced $227.0 million over three years from 2023–24 to boost the capacity of UCCs (including a further 29 to be established for a total of 87) and provide additional support to clinics in regional and rural Australia.

This audit would assess whether the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA’s) procurement of counselling service providers for the Open Arms program has been conducted in accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

Open Arms is a counselling service for Australian veterans and their families, provided through DVA. Open Arms counselling is delivered by a national network of mental health professionals, both in Open Arms centres across the country and by partnerships with private psychologists and social workers, called Outreach Program Counsellors (OPCs). In 2022–23, 323,874 Open Arms services were provided to 43,134 veterans and their families with the program costing $115.6 million. In February 2024, DVA commenced a procurement process to develop a panel of OPCs. The establishment of the panel is expected to be completed by 30 June 2024.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of transitional arrangements developed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts to consolidate the existing Bridges Renewal Program and Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program into a new, ongoing funding stream under the Safer Local Road and Infrastructure Program.

This audit would assess the extent to which entities’ use of the Management Advisory Services Panel supported the achievement of value for money.

The Management Advisory Services Panel (SON3751667) is a cooperative procurement arrangement managed by the Department of Finance. Such arrangements are intended to improve the quality, consistency, and efficiency of the procurement of Management Advisory Services by Commonwealth entities, while supporting entities to achieve value for money outcomes. The Panel supersedes the Business Advisory Services Panel, which ceased operation on 25 October 2022. As of 20 February 2023, there were 413 suppliers on the Panel, and all Australian Government agencies are authorised to access it.

The Australian Government can undertake investments through a range of models to achieve policy and investment outcomes. This audit would assess the effectiveness of the utilisation of these investment models for a selection of investments. The audit would consider the design and governance arrangements of the selected investment models.

The Auditor-General (A/g) responded on 24 September 2015 to correspondence from the Hon Warren Truss MP on 18 September 2015 regarding probity and conflict of interest arrangements in place for the OneSKY Australia programme being led by Airservices Australia.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Treasury’s design and implementation of the Measuring What Matters framework.

The objective of this audit is to examine the effectiveness of the procurement and contract management of onshore-manufactured antivenoms and vaccines.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of Snowy Hydro Limited's (SHL) management of the delivery of Snowy 2.0 in support of achieving value for money.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether the management of funding under the Settlement Engagement and Transition Support services program was effective in achieving the program objectives and consistent with the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Guidelines.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Aged Care’s (Health) development and monitoring of suicide prevention measures.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether procurements conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Security Enhancement Program achieved value for money and complied with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether the Attorney-General’s Department’s (AGD) conduct of the procurements relating to two new child sexual abuse-related national services employed open and effective competition and achieved value for money, consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs).

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the governance board in the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) procurement of IT managed services.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s (Defence) administration of investigations.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s (ACIC) and Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s (CASA) compliance with domestic and international travel requirements.

The ANAO will conduct a series of audits of entities’ compliance with legislative and Australian Government policy requirements, such as:

• requirements of the Protective Security Policy Framework;
• requirements of the Commonwealth Risk Management Framework;
• requirements of the Commonwealth Fraud and Corruption Control Framework;
• information management requirements;
• management of conflicts of interest for SES level staff in entities;
• gifts, benefits and hospitality requirements; and
• domestic and international travel requirements.

The audits would examine the effectiveness of entities’ design, implementation and governance of arrangements to ensure compliance with relevant requirements. This would include assessment of whether audited entities have complied with requirements.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of measures taken to strengthen the protection of Australia’s diplomatic posts and staff overseas.

Auditor-General Report No. 5 2017–18 Protecting Australia’s Missions and Staff Overseas and the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) Report 471: Security of Overseas Missions reported on the security of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT’s) network of overseas missions. The ANAO made seven recommendations in its report and the JCPAA made eight recommendations. In 2018–19, DFAT received $339 million over five years to strengthen management of its security assets and infrastructure, modernise processes and the use of security personnel (Security Enhancements Program). A follow-on audit is proposed to review DFAT’s implementation of recommendations, including in relation to 10 new missions established in recent years, and to review progress in implementing new measures.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness to date of the Department of Defence’s (Defence) procurement of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (LAND 400 Phase 3).

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s (DCCEEW’s) regulation of appliance and equipment energy efficiency standards.

This audit series assesses the effectiveness of governance arrangements in selected entities for monitoring and implementing agreed parliamentary committee and Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) performance audit recommendations.

Parliamentary committee and Auditor-General reports identify areas where administration can be improved and make recommendations to improve the delivery of outcomes. Once entities have agreed to implement performance audit recommendations, or in the case of parliamentary committee reports, the Australian Government has committed to the implementation of recommendations, timely implementation in line with the intended outcome of the recommendation is important in achieving the full benefit of the recommendation.

This report will focus on key selected major Defence acquisition projects in accordance with the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) MPR Guidelines.

Increased transparency and accountability on progress with major Defence equipment acquisitions has been a focus of parliamentary interest for some time. Beginning in 2007–08, an annual program has been established in conjunction with the Department of Defence to enable the ANAO to review and report to the Parliament on the status of major Defence acquisition projects, as set out in the major projects report. The review includes information relating to the cost, schedule and progress towards delivery of required capability of individual projects at 30 June each year, and is undertaken at the request of JCPAA.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether the selected entities’ administration of Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI) requests is effective in giving the community access to Australian Government information.

The objective of this audit is to examine whether the Office of Parliamentary Counsel’s procurement and contract management of the new Federal Register of Legislation project complied with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules and demonstrated the achievement of value for money.

This audit would continue the ANAO’s series of audits on cybersecurity.

The scope would include comparing the entities’ cybersecurity frameworks and controls against the controls required under the Protective Security Policy Framework (Policy 2 — Management structures and responsibilities, Policy 4 — Security maturity monitoring, and Policy 10 — Safeguarding information from cyber threats) and the Australian Signals Directorate’s Essential Eight Maturity Model.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether the award of funding under the Disaster Ready Fund was effective and consistent with the published guidelines.

The objective of this audit is examine whether Department of Defence's (Defence’s) management of the Strategic Domestic Munitions Manufacturing (SDMM) contract has achieved value for money and the effective delivery of the contracted arrangements.

The objective of this audit is to assess whether the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’ (Infrastructure) management of the service delivery agreements for the Australian external territories is effective.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of Airservices Australia’s management of the OneSKY contract.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the design and establishment of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC).

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the management and oversight of compliance activities within the Child Care Subsidy program.

The next Financial and Performance Reporting Forum is scheduled for Friday, 27 June 2025. Further information about the forum will be announced closer to the event date. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming forum, please contact External.Relations@anao.gov.au.

The next Audit Committee Chairs Forum is scheduled for Friday, 4 July 2025. Further information about the forum will be announced closer to the event date. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming forum, please contact External.Relations@anao.gov.au.

Grants are widely used to achieve Government policy outcomes. This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Education's administration of a selection of grant programs, including those delivered with third parties. The audit would consider the design of the grants programs and whether the administration and management of the grant programs are consistent with the Australian Government Grants Framework.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of arrangements to establish Environment Protection Australia.

Environment Protection Australia (EPA) is an element of the Australian Government’s response to the Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) (Samuel Review). The EPA will be the national environmental protection agency, responsible for issuing permits and licenses; project assessments, decisions and post-approvals; compliance and enforcement; and assurance of the application of National Environmental Standards under accredited arrangements with the states and territories. The 2023–24 Federal Budget provided $121 million over four years (from 2023–24) to establish the EPA.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Social Services’ administration of grants awarded under the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program (Safe Places), including compliance with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines, and management of the grants across the Safe Places program life cycle.

Safe Places is a capital works program funding the building, renovation or purchase of emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence. There have been two rounds of funding. Under successive National Plans to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, the Australian Government has committed over $170 million over seven years to Safe Places ($72.6 million for round 1 from 2020–21 to 2024–25, and $100 million for round 2 from 2022–23 to 2026–2027). The first round of grants, awarded in 2020, was intended to deliver new emergency and crisis accommodation for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence. The second round of grants, expected to be awarded in mid 2024, was designed to focus on improving access to appropriate emergency accommodation for First Nations women and children, women and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and women and children with disability.

This information report would cover Australian Government grants reporting following on from Auditor-General Report No. 7 2021–22 Australian Government Grants Reporting. The report would provide transparency of, and insights on government grants expenses and Commonwealth entities’ self-reporting of grants on GrantConnect.

This information report would provide transparency and insights on SES attrition from and movement within the Australian Public Service (APS). The potential data sources include the APS Employment Database, and information published on Gazette. This information report would be neither an audit nor an assurance review and would not present conclusions or opinions.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s administration of the Support Plantation Establishment Program.

$73.76 million was allocated to the program over four years in the October 2022–23 Federal Budget. Successful applicants receive funding, to be matched by a co-contribution by the applicant, to establish new long-rotation softwood and hardwood plantation forests.

The VET Student Loans (VSL) program commenced on 1 January 2017 and provides income contingent loans to eligible students studying approved courses. In 2022, the program provided $222.7 million towards the cost of tuition (out of total of $235 million in total fees charged) for around 30,000 students. The design and implementation of the VSL was audited in 2018–19. This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relation’s management of the VSL program.

This audit would examine the approach to assisting long-term unemployed job seekers through the Workforce Australia program. The audit would assess the effectiveness of the more intensive supports provided by Workforce Australia with a focus on oversight of performance and compliance by employment services providers, and whether the program is meeting its intended objectives. The audit may also assess the effectiveness of contract management by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Australian Industry Participation Authority.

The Australian Industry Participation Authority administers the Australian Industry Participation requirements under the Australian Jobs Act 2013. A 2018 review investigated the transparency of processes to ensure compliance under the legislation.

This audit would assess whether the award of funding under the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program was effective and consistent with the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Guidelines.

The Urban Rivers and Catchments Program is a $200 million grants program that comprises two rounds. The 2022–23 October Federal Budget provided $91 million (from 2022–23) for the first round of the program, and the 2023–24 May Federal Budget provided $109 million (from 2024–25) for the second round of the program. The second round closed on 13 February 2024.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s (DCCEEW) administration of the Climate Risk and Opportunity Management Program (CROMP) across government entities. DCCEEW is responsible for providing support to government entities to manage and report climate risk. CROMP is intended to enable the public sector to identify and manage climate risks and opportunities with the program rolling out in stages from 2023–24.

This audit would assess the effectiveness and efficiency of cost recovery activities conducted by IP Australia. Areas to be examined would be cost recovery implementation models used by IP Australia, business processes used in cost recovery, and calculation of fee structures. The current cost recovery model was revised following a Productivity Commission recommendation (No. 78, 23 September 2016) that suggested patent fees should be set to promote IP policy objectives rather than cost recovery.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s (Defence’s) procurement of ICT-related services.

Defence relies on contracted services for the management and delivery of its ICT-related projects. In April 2023, the Defence Strategic Review highlighted this reliance as an important risk. Auditor-General Report No. 1 2021–22 Defence’s Administration of Enabling Services — Enterprise Resource Planning Program: Tranche 1 identified shortcomings in, and made one recommendation to improve, Defence’s management of probity for that program.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of Defence’s procurement and contract management for its ICT-related services to achieve value for money and the successful delivery of intended outcomes. It also provides an opportunity to update the Parliament on Defence’s progress in improving its management of probity risks in ICT procurements.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Education’s administration of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). NCRIS provides funding for national research infrastructure including physical assets (such as the National Computational Infrastructure that supports Australia’s weather and climate modelling capability) and intangible assets (such as the Australian Research Data Commons, a portal that supports researchers to access and reuse existing data). It would examine areas relating to the department’s allocation of funding and ongoing engagement with NCRIS projects.

The Australian Government has committed to provide $4 billion NCRIS funding between 2018 and 2029. The program will receive an estimated $503 million in 2024–25. Funding is allocated on the basis of roadmaps, which provide a pathway to addressing Australia’s future research infrastructure needs. As at April 2024 NCRIS supports 26 funded projects and an international membership. The projects are led by organisations including universities, publicly funded research organisations and private companies. They form a network involving over 400 delivery partnerships, and employ over 1900 technical experts, researchers and facility managers. Users relying on NCRIS range from early career researchers and small businesses, who would otherwise struggle to access world class national research infrastructure, to global research leaders tapping into the unique facilities that NCRIS provides.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) in the design and implementation of its new customer relationship management (CRM) system named ‘PACE’, including the broader supporting program known as ‘3P’ (Participant, Platform and Process).

PACE will replace existing business and payments systems and portals with a new embedded CRM system. PACE is intended to improve system controls, including controls to validate payments for services. Following a pilot of PACE that started in November 2022 for Tasmanian participants and providers, PACE implementation began across all remaining NDIA locations on 30 October 2023. Full implementation is expected to take 18 months with NDIA’s existing systems continuing to be used alongside PACE during that period.

This audit would review the progress of the Digital Identity System implementation, design and functionality, including the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and the allocation and expenditure of funding, including contract management.

The Digital Identity program is delivered by Services Australia, Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Department of Home Affairs and Department of Finance. Components of the program include the Trusted Digital Identity Framework, the Identity Exchanges (delivered by Services Australia), myGovID (the Commonwealth’s Identity Provider, delivered by ATO) and connected services to the system.

The Digital ID Act 2024 and the Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act will commence on 1 December 2024 and support the expansion of the Australian Government Digital ID System and introduce a voluntary accreditation scheme for digital ID services providers.

Under the AusCheck Act 2007 and operating on a cost recovery basis, AusCheck coordinates national security background checks and related functions for the aviation, maritime and national health security sectors. The purpose of AusCheck is to help to prevent criminal, terrorist and foreign interference threats from using privileged, insider access to circumvent security measures. The department has a performance target of completing 98 per cent of checks in five business days or less.

The audit would examine whether the Department of Home Affairs’ administration of AusCheck is efficient including the timeliness of checks and the administration of the review and appeal processes.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of Services Australia’s use of enforcement powers in its child support and social security compliance programs.

In 2022–23, Services Australia delivered $140.3 billion in social security and welfare payments on behalf of the Australian Government, including facilitating $1.8 billion in child support payments. In ensuring recipients receive only the payments to which they are entitled, Services Australia has a range of enforcement powers it applies through compliance activities. These include powers to require individuals to provide information, produce documents, answer questions, and make payments (including through the use of garnishee orders).

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the enterprise governance at Services Australia. The Chief Executive Officer is the accountable authority of Services Australia. The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 requires the accountable authority of an entity to establish and maintain an appropriate system of risk oversight and management, and an appropriate system of internal control.

Services Australia delivers payments and services on behalf of other entities (such as income support payments on behalf of the Department of Social Services and pharmaceutical benefits scheme payments on behalf of the Department of Health and Aged Care) and services to other entities (for example, corporate shared services such as payroll or ICT for the National Disability Insurance Agency). These services are underpinned by bilateral agreements between Services Australia and each entity, including oversight arrangements, performance measures and reporting and the management of shared risk.

The audit would examine enterprise level administrative, governance and oversight arrangements within Services Australia and compliance with key legislative and policy requirements, including oversight of bilateral arrangements.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the enterprise governance at the Department of Home Affairs. The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 requires the accountable authority of an entity to establish and maintain an appropriate system of risk oversight and management, and an appropriate system of internal control.

The audit would examine enterprise level administrative, governance and oversight arrangements within the department, and compliance with key legislative and policy requirements.

In its Report 495 Inquiry into Commonwealth Grants Administration, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) recommended that the ANAO considers a future audit of the process by which the Minister for Finance is informed of grant approvals against the recommendation of the awarding agency. A cross portfolio audit examining this aspect of the grants framework was last conducted by the ANAO in 2011–12 (Auditor-General Report No. 21 2011–12 Administration of Grant Reporting Obligations). It is envisaged that a similar audit methodology will be employed, including undertaking a comprehensive analysis of agency briefs over a specified period provided to Ministerial decision-makers. The potential audit would also examine any analysis undertaken by the Department of Finance of reports provided to the Minister for Finance, and any resulting advice to the Minister for Finance either on a particular grant award or the grants framework.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) and the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) in the development and implementation of frameworks to govern the use of new and emerging technologies. DISR has oversight of frameworks that support Australian industries (private sector) and DTA oversees Australian Government entities’ application of emerging technology such as artificial intelligence (AI).

The Australian Government announced $101.2 million in the 2023–24 Federal Budget to support businesses to integrate quantum and AI technologies into their operations. The investment is expected to support the creation of 1.2 million tech-related jobs by 2030, increasing local capacity and capability and driving the uptake of these technologies.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Fraud Fusion Taskforce, to determine how government agencies work together to detect, resolve and prevent fraud and serious organised crime in the NDIS, while maintaining a focus on participant safety and welfare.

The NDIS Fraud Fusion Taskforce commenced in November 2022, co-led by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and Services Australia, with 14 other government agencies including the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. $126.3 million was allocated over four years in the October 2022–23 Federal Budget to establish the taskforce.

The 2024–25 Federal Budget allocated funding of $35.6 million, in addition to the allocation of $48.3 million over two years from 2023–24, to boost fraud detecting information technology systems at the NDIA and $23.5 million over two years for Services Australia to continue fraud investigation and response activities as part of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce.

This audit would assess the implementation of the Australian Public Service (APS) ethical frameworks by the Australian Taxation Office. The APS ethical frameworks comprise the legal framework (the basis of which is the Public Service Act 1999 and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013); activity-specific frameworks (such as the Commonwealth Procurement Rules and Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines); government policies; and entity-specific frameworks (including the requirements of enabling legislation, Accountable Authority Instructions and other internal policies).

This is part of a series of audits on the implementation of ethical frameworks in APS Agencies.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the APS Strategic Commissioning Framework by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) and a selection of Australian Government entities.

The APSC issued the APS Strategic Commissioning Framework in October 2023. It is intended to strengthen APS capability through reduced reliance on contractors and consultants for core work. Under the framework, certain core functions must be done by the APS and must not be outsourced to an external workforce. At an APS-wide level these include: developing cabinet submissions; drafting legislation and regulation; leading policy formulation; and roles on an agency’s executive team. Other core functions should be brought back in-house: procurement; contract management; cost benefit analyses; grant administration; and program delivery.

The framework initially applies to all entities that employ staff under the Public Service Act 1999, but the APSC encourages all Australian Government entities to follow the framework. Entities are guided by the framework’s seven principles: start with rigorous planning; APS employment is the default; use APS networks first; use external support in limited circumstances; maximise the benefits and minimise the risk of any external arrangements; apply merit when converting roles; and monitoring and accountability. The APSC received $4.8 million in additional funding in 2024–25 to update and enhance the APS Employment Database to provide improved insights into the APS workforce.

This series of audits would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s (Defence’s) implementation of the Defence Strategic Review (the Review).

In April 2023, the Australian Government released the public version of the Review, which set a new reform agenda affecting Australia’s strategic posture, Defence capability and resource requirements, and force design for the Australian Defence Force. The Review identified rapid implementation as a key challenge for Defence and proposed a range of new or revised institutional arrangements to lead key initiatives, including a nuclear submarine agency and a nuclear regulator to support the AUKUS submarine initiative, a guided weapons and explosive ordnance ‘enterprise’ and the appointment of senior responsible officers for selected Review initiatives and focus areas. The Review also proposed a range of investments in Defence capability and infrastructure, and reprioritisation of the Integrated Investment Program. Audits in this series would focus on the effectiveness of Defence’s implementation of, and governance arrangements for, Government approved programs of work in response to the Review.

This audit would examine the implementation of the National Environmental-Economic Accounting Strategy and Action Plan.

The Australian Government and all state and territory governments agreed on a national strategy and action plan to implement Environmental-Economic Accounting across Australia. This is intended to support nationally consistent application of the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting. As part of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s (DCCEEW) 2023–24 Corporate Plan, DCCEEW has set targets for the next four financial years to finalise, release, and continue to release annual national environmental-economic accounts and environmental indicators.

This cross-entity audit would assess the effectiveness of actions by the Department of Health and Aged Care (Health) and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to achieve Australian Government targets for reducing the number of younger people entering or remaining in residential aged care, and the Department of Social Services’ (DSS’) oversight and evaluation of actions taken.

In 2019, the Australian Government committed to ensuring no younger person (under the age of 65) lives in residential aged care unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The Younger People in Residential Aged Care Strategy 2020–25, a cross-entity Australian Government strategy, was released in September 2020. The strategy is to support achievement of the following targets, with the exception of those who fell into the category of exceptional circumstances:

• no people under the age of 65 entering residential aged care by 2022;
• no people under the age of 45 living in residential aged care by 2022; and
• no people under the age of 65 living in residential aged care by 2025.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation’s (ILSC’s) management of non-financial assets.

The ILSC is a corporate Commonwealth entity established under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 (the Act). One function of the ILSC is to acquire land to grant to Indigenous corporations. Under section 191D of the Act, the ILSC must make a grant for an interest in land acquired for that purpose within a reasonable time after its acquisition. At 30 June 2023, the ILSC and subsidiary corporations held the Ayers Rock Resort valued at $435 million, other properties valued at $66 million, and livestock on properties valued at $6 million. While the ILSC holds properties, it is responsible for maintenance, statutory costs and the operation of related businesses. The audit would examine the ILSC’s asset management strategy and practices, including those related to the divestment of properties. This would include how ILSC has implemented its National Indigenous Land and Sea Strategy (NILSS) 2023–2028.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Parliamentary Services’ (DPS) management of assets. According to its 2024–25 Portfolio Budget Statements, DPS is responsible for the management of approximately $3.3 billion in non-financial assets.

Key assets include:

• land and buildings ($2.9 billion);
• heritage and cultural assets, including the Parliament House art collection ($128 million); and
• property, plant and equipment ($172 million).

This audit would be a follow-up to Auditor-General Report No. 49 2018–19 Management of Commonwealth National Parks.

The previous audit found that the Director of National Parks had not established effective arrangements to plan, deliver and measure the impact of its operational activities within the six terrestrial national parks. The previous audit made seven recommendations to the Director of National Parks.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s administration of post entry quarantine.

Imported plants and animals, including cats, dogs, birds and horses, complete quarantine at the department’s Post Entry Quarantine facility in Mickleham, Victoria.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Services Australia’s management of Smart Centres’ telephony services.

Services Australia operates the largest contact centre in the southern hemisphere with over 79 smart centres across Australia delivering telephony and processing services for Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support, and surge services for Department of Veterans’ Affairs and whole of government activities. In 2022–23 Services Australia reported that it handled 55.2 million calls. In October 2023, Services Australia informed Parliament that over 9,400,000 customers were booked into virtual waiting rooms and the longest wait time was almost 3 hours, over 9 million customers received congestion messaging and over 4 million calls were terminated by the customer. In the 2024–25 Federal Budget, the government announced $1.8 billion over three years from 2023–24 for additional frontline staff to help stabilise Services Australia claims backlog and service standards.

Services Australia’s reported in its 2022–23 Annual Performance Statements that it partially achieved its strategic performance measure of 70 per cent of customers served within 15 minutes. Services Australia also reported that the performance result may have been impacted by the lack of system functionality to combine call wait times once a call had been transferred.

The audit would follow-on from Auditor-General Report No. 28 2018–19 Management of Smart Centres’ Centrelink Telephone Services — Follow-up which contained two recommendations relating to monitoring and reporting on effectiveness of digital service delivery and wait times and finalising the review of key performance indicators.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of Defence’s management of the disposal of specialist military equipment (SME).

As at 30 June 2023, Defence reported that it managed $136.3 billion of total assets, including $84.3 billion of specialist military equipment. When one of these items is no longer suitable for or is surplus to Defence’s requirements, Defence disposes of it by either: transferring it to an Australian government agency or another government, selling it, gifting it or destroying it. An audit would examine whether the disposal of selected SME was conducted in accordance with Defence policy and applicable Commonwealth legislative requirements.

The audit would assess the effectiveness of the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s (NIAA’s) management of the regional network, including whether the regional network is achieving its objectives.

The NIAA administers the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS). The IAS is supported by the NIAA’s regional network, which aims to position senior decision makers close to the people and communities they work with, in order to develop and implement local solutions to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians. Auditor-General Report No. 7 2018–19 Management of the Regional Network found that the effectiveness of the management of the regional network was mixed, and the full potential of the regional network to facilitate the design and delivery of local solutions to local problems was not being maximized.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) in managing its backlog of compensation claims under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

DVA is responsible for processing veteran compensation claims for liability, permanent impairment and incapacity. As at September 2022, DVA had a backlog of 45,226 compensation claims (claims not allocated to a claims officer). The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide’s August 2022 Interim Report included a recommendation for DVA to eliminate the claims backlog. The Australian Government agreed to the recommendation. The Australian Government provided $298 million over four years (across October 2022–23 and May 2023–24 Federal Budgets), to employ 500 additional frontline staff to process claims and maintain a skilled workforce. As at 30 April 2024, DVA had allocated 94.3 per cent of the backlog identified by the Royal Commission (41,799) and there were 73,590 claims with a claims officer for processing.

This audit would assess whether entities’ procurement activities have been conducted in accordance with relevant Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

The National Intelligence Community (NIC) was officially formed in 2017 and comprises agencies from the Home Affairs, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolios. This audit would examine whether selected NIC entities have appropriately managed the procurement of major capabilities. It would include procurements used to develop capabilities of individual NIC agencies, as well as those that are for a shared capability across the sector.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) procurement arrangements. This audit would examine whether the NDIA had a fit for purpose procurement framework and whether procurements have been conducted in accordance with the framework. The NDIA is a corporate Commonwealth entity (CCE) not bound by the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. For the 2022–23 financial year the NDIA published details of contracts to the value of $4.7 billion, of which $2.7 billion was for Partners in the Community contracts, $102,233,103 for legal services and $10,790,211 for consultancy services. The NDIA is expected to undertake procurement for new Partners in the Community contracts ahead of the expiry of current contracts in June 2025.

In 2005, a 12-year $106 million contract was entered into by the Australian Government for helicopter response, surveillance and logistics support missions to prevent people smuggling and manage other maritime threats across the North West approaches of Australia. The term of the contract is due to expire in 2024 at an estimated total cost of $182 million. The Department of Home Affairs’ Annual Procurement Plan includes conducting a procurement in 2023—24 to replace this contract.

As set out in Auditor-General Report No. 6 2021–22, Management of the Civil Maritime Surveillance Services Contract the rotary wing contract is the second and smaller of two contracts the department has in place for aerial surveillance. The procurement process for, and management of, the rotary wing services contract was not examined in Auditor-General Report No. 6 of 2021–22 Management of the Civil Maritime Surveillance Contract. The conduct of the procurement of a new contract for rotary wing surveillance, response and logistic support services will provide an early indication of whether lessons have been learned from the management of the civil maritime surveillance services contract examined in that Auditor-General Report. The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has recommended that the ANAO undertake a performance audit of the Department of Home Affairs’ transition to the new surveillance services contract when the current contract expires (in 2027).

The audit would assess whether the conduct of the procurement employed open and effective competition and achieved value for money, consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs).

This audit would assess to what extent the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has effectively managed its procurement contracts for Inland Rail.

Inland Rail is a key government infrastructure project. It involves building and operating a freight train line from Brisbane to Melbourne. Construction started in 2017 and is expected to finish in 2026.

In August 2021, the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee published a report which highlighted concerns with Inland Rail’s 2015 business case (Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, Inland Rail: derailed from the start (2021)). In October 2022, the Australian Government announced an independent review into Inland Rail. This was completed in April 2023 and made 19 recommendations focused around strengthening governance, reviewing risk approaches, assessing the scope and cost of Inland Rail including a revised delivery approach, consideration of further intermodal terminals, and maximising regional opportunities. The government agreed to all 19 recommendations.

As part of its responsibility for managing Australia’s participation in World Expositions, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) manages the design, commissioning and decommissioning of a temporary national pavilion. The department is conducting procurement processes for the design, construction and decommissioning of the pavilion. The pavilion will provide a number of areas: public exhibition and visitor experience areas; function and representational areas; cultural performance areas; commercial retail, food and beverage areas; queuing space and back of house technical areas. The budget for procurements related to the pavilion totals over $68 million, including lead design consultant, project manager and construction contractor.

The audit would examine DFAT’s management of the pavilion project, with a particular focus on the conduct of the procurements and management of the resulting contracts.

This audit would assess the effectiveness of the early implementation of the Rewiring the Nation program.

The Australian Government allocated $20 billion to establish the Rewiring the Nation program in the October 2022–23 Federal Budget. The Rewiring the Nation Office in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is responsible for managing the program, the Australian Energy Market Operator will act as a technical advisor, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will act as the financing arm.

The program has supported several transmission projects including VNI West (KerangLink) between Victoria and NSW; Sydney Ring – Hunter Transmission Project; Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zones; HumeLink; and the Marinus Link between Tasmania and Victoria.

The audit would assess Services Australia’s procurement of a Network Transformation Partner including planning, achieving value for money, design of performance measures in the contract with the successful tenderer and progress to date in managing the contract.

On 8 January 2024, Services Australia issued a request for tender titled ‘Provision of a Network Transformation Partner Services Stage 1’. The tender closes on 14 March 2024. Services Australia is seeking: a Network Transformation Partner (NTP) to assist the agency in replacing Services Australia’s existing Wide Area Network (WAN). In replacing the existing network, the agency will seize the opportunity to transform from a traditional network to a Software defined solution across WAN, LAN, and WLAN and mobile satellite services. Working with the agency, the Partner will plan, design, build and implement the transformed network and provide managed network services to enable business as usual operations post implementation.

This audit would assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) management of taxpayers involved in the ATO’s Client Identity Support Centre (CISC).

When an individual has had their identity compromised, the ATO through the CISC supports the taxpayer to continue to participate in the taxation and superannuation system with further safeguards around their ATO account, and monitoring processes over their tax records.

This audit would examine the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Department of the Treasury, Department of Industry, Science and Resources and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in managing residual risks still in existence after the abolition of the Modernising Business Registers program, and the management of risks after registry functions were transferred back to ASIC.

In 2020, as part of its Digital Business Plan, the Australian Government announced the full implementation of the Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program to establish Australian Business Registry Services, and to streamline the way in which people register, view, and maintain business information with government. The Modernising Business Registers program was halted in August 2023.