The focus of this audit was to ascertain how the Family Court had spent Justice Statement monies and to form an opinion on the current and projected financial position of the Court. The ANAO undertook the review of the Family Court in a two-stage process. The first stage, the findings of which appear in this report, to allow consideration in the Budget context, was undertaken as a project audit and had the objective of addressing the issues of immediate concern to the Attorney-General.

The audit examined the administrative effectiveness of arrangements between Health and HIC, in relation to the management and administration of the Medicare Benefits Scheme and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Health predominantly exercises a policy and leadership role within the health portfolio - HIC delivers a range of health services directly to the public and members of the health industry. Both agencies have stated that they recognise the importance of working together, as partners in their respective roles, to maximise their performance in the achievement of health portfolio outcomes and to discharge their respective responsibilities. This joint commitment is embodied in a written agreement - called the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA).

The audit reviewed Defence's higher-level management of its knowledge system equipment acquisition projects. These amount to $8.5b. The focus of the audit was on the opportunities for Defence to adopt a much more coherent and integrated approach to knowledge systems management prospectively rather than on emphasising current system compatibility issues.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Health Insurance Commission Senior Management Group

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the Senior Staff of the Board of Audit - Tokyo, Japan

The objective of this audit was to establish whether Defence has developed sound fraud control arrangements that are consistent with better practice and fulfil its responsibilities for the protection of public property, revenue, expenditure, and rights and privileges from fraudulent exploitation.

The objective of the preliminary study was to form a view regarding the quality of, and controls over, the Budget estimates and to inform the decision whether to proceed to a full performance audit at this time. On the basis of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the budget process undertaken during the study, the ANAO concluded that there are no apparent systemic problems in the cash-based estimating processes in the agencies reviewed that would, in themselves, lead to material statistical inaccuracies in the Budget's projected outcomes. The ANAO decided not to proceed with a full performance audit at this time.

The objectives of this audit were to:

• examine the effectiveness of ASIC's processes for receiving reports of suspected breaches of the Corporations Act; and
• assess the efficiency with which statutory reports are referred and investigated by ASIC.

The audit commenced in February 2006. ANAO undertook an assessment of ASIC's processes for receiving and referring for investigation statutory reports. ANAO also undertook a detailed examination of a random sample of 416 statutory reports received by ASIC in the period 2002–03 to 2004–05.

The audit scope did not extend to the role of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in prosecuting offences referred to it by ASIC.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Sydney, 30 Sept

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the National Public Sector Accountants Conference, Adelaide