The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s identity verification arrangements for applicants in the Citizenship Program.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and the Australian Institute of Administrative Law Conference on Outsourcing

The objective of this audit was to evaluate whether selected Australian Government agencies were effectively managing security risks arising from the use of contractors. To address this objective, the audit evaluated relevant policies and practices in the audited agencies against a series of minimum requirements in the management of security issues in procurement and contracting activity. These minimum requirements were developed from the guidance and standards contained in the PSM and also from the ANAO's previous protective security audits.

The audit focused on two broad types of contracting arrangements: contracting of security functions; and contracting of any service or business function that requires, or which has the potential to require, contractors to access sensitive or security classified information.

The following Australian Government agencies were involved in this audit:

• Australian Customs Service (Customs);
• Commonwealth Superannuation Administration (ComSuper);
• Department of Finance and Administration (Finance); and
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

In addition, the Attorney-General's Department, which is responsible for the maintenance of the PSM and for providing advice on contemporary protective security policies and practices, was consulted during the audit.

Tactical fighter operations (TFOs) form the basis of Australia's current military capability to ensure air superiority. Air superiority over the Australian territory and maritime approaches is an essential element in Australia's defence strategy. The audit objectives were to:

• assess whether the resources used to provide the F/A-18 tactical fighter force operational capability are managed cost-effectively; and
• identify areas for improvement in the coordination, planning and practices employed in administration of tactical fighter operations.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ arrangements for the management of contractors.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had complied with gifts, benefits and hospitality requirements.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s management of the biosecurity workforce.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's workforce planning to support key activities.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the NDIS Commission in exercising its regulatory functions.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority's administration of community awareness, professional education and donor family support activities intended to increase organ an

The audit objective was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Human Services’ administration of the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register.

The ANAO Quality Assurance Framework is the system of quality control that the ANAO has established to provide the Auditor-General with reasonable assurance that the ANAO complies with the ANAO standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements and reports issued by the ANAO are appropriate in the circumstances.

The Audit Quality Report demonstrates the ANAO assessment of the implementation and operating effectiveness of the elements of the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework. The report provides transparency in respect of the processes, policies, and procedures that support each element of the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework, and reports audit quality indicators measuring ANAO performance against target benchmarks.

This report also includes the achievement of the quality assurance strategy and deliverables set out in the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework and Plan 2019–20.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Environment and Energy’s arrangements for the preparation and reporting of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions estimates and projections.

The objective of the audit was to assess how effectively and efficiently the Australian Taxation Office managed contact centres as part of its overall service delivery.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs monitoring and implementation of ANAO and internal performance audit recommendations.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's probity management.

The Auditor-General Act 1997 establishes the mandate for the Auditor-General to undertake financial statement audits of all Australian Government entities including those of government agencies, statutory authorities and government business enterprises.

Our interim audits of agencies encompass a review of governance arrangements related to agencies’ financial reporting responsibilities, and an examination of relevant internal controls, including information technology system controls. The ANAO’s examination of these areas is designed to assess the reliance that can be placed on agencies’ internal controls to produce complete and accurate information for financial reporting purposes.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has effectively managed risks related to the rapid implementation of COVID-19 economic response measures.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Ageing's administration of the Round the Clock Medicare: Investing in After Hours General Practice Services program.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the evaluation of selected Australian Government pilot programs.

The objective of the audit is to assess the effectiveness of the ATO's administration of debt collection. Micro-business debt is a particular focus of attention. The three key areas examined are:

• strategies–especially the ATO's initiatives trialled in 2006;
• infrastructure–the IT systems, people, policy and processes and risk management framework supporting the collection of debt; and
• management and governance–planning, monitoring and reporting mechanisms and liaison with stakeholders.

The ANAO focused on the work of the campaigns area within the Debt Line, which has collection responsibility for 90 per cent of collectable debt cases and responsibility for other key, centralised functions such as reporting, quality assurance review, consistency and best practice, and the debt collection initiatives.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the MBA Governance Students at Macquarie University Graduate School of Management

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of Services Australia’s management of the privacy of client information.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the transition of the Remote Jobs and Communities Programme to the Community Development Programme, including whether the Community Development Programme is well designed and administered effectively and efficiently.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Clean Energy Regulator’s (CER) issuing, compliance and contracting activities related to Australian Carbon Credit Units.

The objective of the audit was to assess the completeness and reliability of the estimates reported in Tax Expenditures Statement 2006 (TES 2006). That is, the audit examined the development and publication of the detailed statement of actual tax expenditures required by Division 2 of Part 5 of the CBH Act. The development and publication of aggregated information on projected tax expenditures included in the Budget Papers pursuant to Division 1 of Part 5 of the CBH Act was not examined.

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 management of Machinery of Government (MoG) changes by the selected Australian Government entities.

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is effectively managing the use of corporate credit cards for official purposes in accordance with legislative and entity requirements.

Mr Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, participated in a panel discussion at the Australian Government Leadership Network Annual Conference (Queensland)