Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Queensland Regional Heads Forum

The audit sought to assess how well the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) manages aggressive tax planning. We did this by exploring the nature of aggressive tax planning and the ATO's approach to its management. In the latter context, we looked at:

• the ATO's previous experience with aggressive tax planning and action on previous significant external reviews, particularly dealing with mass marketed investment schemes;
• strategy and operations, intelligence gathering and use; and the identification and management of promoters given their significant role in aggressive tax planning.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s administration of its Domestic Fishing Compliance Program.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, Address to University of Canberra students participating in the Graduate Certificate in Performance Auditing

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management - Washington

Mr Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the Public Sector Audit Network Group

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Department of Health and Family Services had managed its coordinating role and implemented its responsibilities under the National Rural Health Strategy efficiently and effectively.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the management and control of program evaluation in the Australian Public Service. The ANAO made an assessment against criteria which were designed to test whether agencies were undertaking evaluations in a way which would enhance their overall effectiveness. The main issues examined were:

• approaches to evaluation planning;
• the conduct of individual evaluations;
• the quality of evaluation reports; and
• the impact of evaluations.

The Audit Activity Report: July to December 2004 summarises the activity and outputs of the Australian National Audit Office for the first half of the 2004-05 reporting year. The Report outlines the key findings of performance and financial control audits, and summarises audits tabled and better practice guides during July to December 2004.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Torres Strait Regional Authority’s administration of its program and service delivery functions.