The Audit Committee Chairs Forum is a joint initiative of the Department of Finance and the ANAO and includes the general government and non-general government sector Audit Committee Chairs. This communique covers the outcomes of the discussion at the forum on 7 June 2017 including updates from the Auditor-General and the ANAO, and from the Department of Finance.

The Auditor-General, Grant Hehir, delivered a presentation to the 15th Biennial Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees (ACPAC) Conference held at Parliament House, Canberra, on 7 November 2019. The presentation was titled Maintaining Trust in the Parliamentary Process — PACs and Officers of the Parliament.

The Auditor-General wrote to the Minister for Finance on 26 June 2023 to advise of the outcomes of the 2022–23 annual performance statements audit program, and a proposal for expanding the program of audits in 2023–24 and the following two financial years. The Minister for Finance responded on 18 July 2023 supporting the proposal. The Minister for Finance's full response is provided below.

The Auditor-General responded on 26 April 2016 to correspondence from Mr Pat Conroy MP on 16 February 2016 regarding the government advertising campaign Welcome to the Ideas Boom.

The Auditor-General responded on 14 January 2016 to correspondence from the Hon Catherine King MP on 22 October 2015, on the project agreement for the Health and Hospitals Fund – 2010 Regional Priority Round Project in Palmerston.

The Auditor-General undertook a limited assurance review of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources’ assessment of the performance of New South Wales under the National Partnership Agreement on Implementing Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin relevant to the protection and use of environmental water for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 financial years.

The Auditor-General responded on 8 September 2015 to correspondence from Senator Lee Rhiannon on 10 August 2015 regarding the WestConnex road building project in NSW.

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 objective of this report was to provide the Auditor‐General’s independent assurance over the status of the selected Major Projects, as reflected in the Statement by the Secretary of Defence, and the Project Data Summary Sheets (PDSSs) prepared by Defence, in accordance with the Guidelines endorsed by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit.

On 9 May 2006, the Auditor-General advised the then Minister for Transport and Regional Services that he would undertake a performance audit and that the specific audit objectives and approach would be established once officers of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) had the opportunity to undertake preliminary enquiries with senior staff in Airservices Australia and the Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS). On 31 May 2006, the Auditor-General designated a performance audit under Section 18 of the Auditor-General Act 1997 (Auditor-General Act). The objectives of the performance audit were to: examine the development and administration by Airservices Australia of its contracts with the Solomon Islands Government for upper airspace management; assess the regularity of payments made under the contracts and steps taken by Airservices Australia in respect of any irregularities; and make recommendations for any improvements in the processes employed by Airservices Australia in developing and administering these and similar contractual arrangements.