The Auditor-General responded on 6 October 2020 to correspondence from Senator Murray Watt dated 18 September 2020, requesting that the Auditor-General conduct an investigation to examine the conduct of Senator Pauline Hanson, relevant government ministers — particularly the Minister for Sport, Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, the Hon Michael McCormack MP — and the relevant departments in relation to the announcement of $23 million in Commonwealth Government funding for the Victoria Park stadium in Rockhampton. Senator Watt also requested that the Auditor-General conduct an investigation to examine the assessment process of the project undertaken by the relevant government ministers and their departments before awarding the $23 million grant. 

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Environment’s administration of the Biodiversity Fund program.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Environment and Energy's award of funding under the 20 Million Trees Programme.

Grant Hehir, Auditor-General for Australia, attended the Institute of Internal Auditors-Australia ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Conference’ on 31 July 2018, and presented an opening keynote session titled Strategic governance of risk: Lessons learnt from public sector audit. The accompanying paper to the speech, which was delivered against a conference theme of ‘internal auditor as a trusted advisor’, is available here.

The audit reviewed the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement (CSHA). CSHA is a joint arrangement between the Commonwealth and the States under which both the Commonwealth and the States contribute funding in the form of grants, which are used by State Housing Authorities to provide a variety of housing assistance programs to households on low incomes and those with special needs. The overall objective of the audit was to assess and report to Parliament on how effectively the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS - formerly the Department of Social Security) administered the CSHA and to identify any areas where improvements could be made.

The audit objective was to assess whether the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has effectively established and implemented the Indigenous Advancement Strategy to achieve the outcomes desired by government.

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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s delivery of the Community Batteries for Household Solar program.

The audit will examine the effectiveness of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA’s) management of compliance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act).

The Act requires non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees to submit an annual report containing data on workplace gender equality to the WGEA. Employers with 500 or more employees must also comply with minimum standards for gender equality. Employers that fail to comply with the Act may be publicly named by the WGEA and may be excluded from tendering for Australian Government contracts, receiving Australian Government grants, or tendering for contracts with some state governments. On 30 March 2023, the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 was passed, which requires the WGEA to publish employer gender pay gaps for private sector and Commonwealth public sector employers, and from 2024, employees will have access to information about their employer’s performance on pay parity.

The audit may examine the WGEA’s use and assurance of data, identification and monitoring of non-compliant employers, and certification of compliance. The audit may also examine whether non-compliant employers have been awarded Australian Government contracts and grants.