This edition of audit insights outlines key messages from a series of recent audits examining the effectiveness of governance boards in four corporate Commonwealth entities. The audit observations from this series of audits relate primarily to the ‘soft’ attributes of effective governance such as relationships, behaviours and culture, while also recognising the important interplay with the ‘hard’ attributes of governance such as board composition, appointment processes and independence. The key messages may be relevant for the operations of other Commonwealth boards as well as broader governance arrangements in Commonwealth entities.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s exercise of its regulatory functions.

The ANAO responded to the emerging sector-wide risks for public administration by developing a strategy for a program of audits examining the delivery of the Australian Government’s COVID-19 pandemic response (COVID-19 audit strategy). The purpose of this information report was to summarise and consolidate the learnings from the audits and reviews conducted by the ANAO under the COVID-19 audit strategy.

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

Grant Hehir, Auditor-General for Australia, attended the XXIII Commonwealth Auditors-General Conference in New Delhi, India, and presented a keynote speech on 22 March 2017 titled Environmental Audit: A Commonwealth Perspective.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s administration of health services in onshore immigration detention.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the governance board in the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The audit objective was to examine the effectiveness of the Australian Skills Quality Authority’s planning and implementation of reform to the regulation of the vocational education and training sector.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Energy Regulator’s regulation of energy markets.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the governance board in Old Parliament House.