Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Global Working Group Meeting, Wellington, New Zealand

The 30 per cent Private Health Insurance Rebate is a financial incentive for individuals to purchase health insurance cover. The rebate provides for a reimbursement or discount of 30 per cent of the cost of private health insurance. It is available to all Australians who are eligible for Medicare and have private health insurance. The objective of the audit was to determine the effectiveness of Commonwealth Government agencies administration of the rebate.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether the controls employed by the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) and Centrelink to ensure the correctness of payments made under the Age Pension program were effective and efficient. The ANAO focused on:

• business arrangements between FACS and Centrelink and the Business Assurance Framework;
• whether the source of error was correctly attributed in customer records assessed by FACS and Centrelink as containing an error in the 2000-01 Age Pension Random Sample Survey:
• the correctness of Centrelink's processing of reassessments, including Pensioner Entitlements Reviews, Customer Initiated Reassessments and automated reassessments: and
• progress in implementing the recommendations of previous ANAO audits concerning the preventive quality controls that underpin correct payments.

The objective of the audit was to form an opinion on the administrative effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of the Department of Health and Aged Care's delivery of health services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, addressed the Defence Audit and Program Evaluation Committee (DAPEC)

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Chartered Secretaries Australia, Discussion Luncheon, Canberra

Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the 20th Commonwealth Auditors-General Conference

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 CPA Australia National Public Sector Convention, Perth

In the light of the concerns raised by the Leader of the Opposition and some other Members of Parliament about the allocation of financial assistance approved under the NHT, it was decided to undertake preliminary inquiries. The inquiries focussed on the transparency and rigour of the decision-making process for projects approved for NHT funding.