The objective of the audit was to assess DoHA's administration of building certification of residential aged care homes. The ANAO examined DoHA's arrangements to: plan for, and report on, the certification program; manage the delivery of certification services; and manage stakeholder relations.

The audit did not seek to validate assessments made under the program by DoHA's contracted assessor and, therefore, does not form an opinion on whether residential aged care homes should or should not have been certified.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AO) - Auditor-General for Australia, an Occasional Paper

This audit is the thirteenth in a series of audits that have fulfilled the Senate’s request for the Auditor-General to provide an annual report on agencies’ compliance with the Order, since it was introduced in 2001. The audit objective was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts.

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

This follow-up Audit reviewed the Department of Health and Ageing's implementation of the recommendations of Audit Report No. 36, 1999-2000, Home and Community Care. The objective of the follow-up audit was to assess the extent to which the Department had implemented the nine recommendations of Audit Report No. 36, 1999-2000. The audit examined areas relating to funding, guidance, fees, coordination with other aged and disability care programs, acquittals, accountability and data requirements, and records management.

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the strengthened two–pass approval process for major capital equipment projects is being implemented effectively.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs’ administration of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH), including monitoring and reporting of progress against the objective and outcomes of the agreement.

The audit objective was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts. This included assessing compliance with the Order and following up on the implementation of recommendations made in previous Senate Order audits.

The audit involved three components:

• an examination of a stratified random sample of 150 contracts listed as containing confidentiality provisions from material and small agencies across the Australian Government to determine whether confidentiality provisions were used and reported appropriately;
• an examination of all FMA Act agencies' calendar year 2009 contract listings, and ministers' letters of advice, to assess compliance with the requirements of the Order, and check reported instances of excluded contracts; and
• a follow-up of the implementation of previous audit recommendations relating to the administration of the Senate Order in four agencies. The selected agencies were the: Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID); Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA); Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF); and the Federal Court of Australia (Federal Court). The selected agencies were audited in one of the ANAO's previous five audits of Senate Order compliance.

The objective of the audit was to assess and report on the progress being made by agencies subject to the Financial Management & Accountability Act 1997 and entities subject to the Commonwealth Authorities & Companies Act 1997: in realising value for money from the procurement process, with a specific focus on buildings, services and products using whole of life cycle assessments; and in the consideration and management of environmental impacts in specifications and contracts. The emphasis of the audit was on green office procurement and sustainable business practices and the value for money within this context. As such, the audit report provides a status report on the implementation of ESD within the office environment of the Australian Government. The audit used a survey approach in conjunction with selected audit investigations to obtain information across 71 agencies and entities selected on the basis of materiality in procurement and coverage across large, medium and small organisations. The agencies selected represented approximately 35 per cent of all government bodies and over 95 per cent of all procurement spending noted on the Department of Finance and Administration (Finance) database on contracts.

All persons, other than Australian nationals, are required to hold a visa to enter and stay in Australia. This audit's focus is on the entry component of the visa process and specifically the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). The ETA is an electronically-stored authority for travel, which facilitates the entry of tourists and short-term business travellers from countries where the risk of non-compliance with visa conditions is low, that is, in countries classified as ‘low risk'. The objective of the performance audit was to assess the administrative effectiveness of the ETA.