The audit is a follow-up to Audit Report 12, 1995-96 Risk Management by Commonwealth Consumer Product Safety Regulators. The objectives of this follow-up audit were to determine the extent to which ANZFA had implemented the agreed recommendations contained in the 1995 Audit Report, and to determine the effectiveness of the implemented recommendations in improving food safety regulation.

The objective of this audit was to assess the administration and implementation of the drought assistance measures. The audit focussed on EC, including prima facie EC, and key aspects of the additional drought assistance measures.

A Business Support Process audit of the administration of grants in small to medium organisations was undertaken across six Commonwealth organisations to assess whether agencies had implemented appropriate risk management strategies for grant programs; evaluate whether grants had been administered in accordance with the appropriate legislation, Commonwealth guidance, and other accepted internal controls; and to recommend improvements in the controls and practices relating to grants administration.

This benchmarking study was a follow on from ANAO Report No. 14 of 2000-01, Benchmarking the Internal Audit Function, which was published in October 2000. The objective of the study was to obtain and report qualitative and quantitative data on aspects of the internal audit function and compare the public sector internal audit results with equivalent international data to identify better practices and highlight areas for improvement.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health’s and Australian Hearing’s administration of the Community Service Obligations program for hearing services.

This audit followed up the ANAO's 2000 performance audit report on retention of military personnel (Audit Report No.35 1999-2000 Retention of Military Personnel), which focused on examining whether ADF personnel management practices to retain personnel were commensurate with the cost of recruiting and training new personnel, or whether more cost- effective steps could be taken to reduce the separation rates of desirable personnel. The objective of the follow-up audit was to assess Defence's implementation of recommendations made in the original audit report and their effectiveness in helping Defence control the flow of trained personnel from the Services.

The audit reviewed six budget-funded agencies (Australian Customs Service, Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, Department of Defence, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, and Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) and two off-budget entities (Airservices Australia and Reserve Bank of Australia). The ANAO also examined the Office for Government Online's (OGO, formerly the Office of Government Information Technology, or OGIT) whole-of-government coordination of the Commonwealth's Year 2000 efforts.

This is a follow-up audit to Audit Report No.7, 1993-94 titled Department of Social Security: Data-matching. It reports upon the effectiveness of the DSS actions in response to the recommendations of the original 1993-94 audit. In noting the considerable progress made by the Department against the original audit recommendations, the ANAO considers that several recommendations have yet to be fully addressed. These are covered in this report and include reducing the variability in review results across offices, enhancing the TFN registration process, and validating savings assumptions.

The objective of the ANAO audit was to identify possible areas for improvement in the Australian Defence Force's management of its Reserve forces. The audit focused on major aspects of the Reserves including roles and tasks, force structure, capability, training, individual readiness, equipment, facilities, recruitment, retention, conditions of service and administration. The audit covered the Australian Naval Reserve, the Australian Army Reserve and the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve. However, due to its size and cost, the Army Reserve was a major focus of the audit activity.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the 1999 Department of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations Biennial Risk Management Conference, Brisbane