Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present the committee’s report No. 421 entitled The role of the Auditor-General in scrutinising government advertising.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—This report is tabled on behalf of the committee of the previous parliament, which undertook all of the work for the inquiry, including the conduct of the public hearings and the preparation of the report. After consideration of the report and its findings, the current Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has decided to adopt this report.

The inquiry was instigated by the previous committee in October 2008 to examine the Auditor-General’s new role in scrutinising compliance of public advertising campaigns under the Guidelines on Information and Advertising Campaigns by Australian Government Departments and Agencies. Under the guidelines implemented in 2008, the Auditor-General was not required to decide whether a campaign would run or not but only required to provide a review opinion as to whether it considered the guidelines had been satisfied.

The committee commended the Australian National Audit Office for the diligence with which it undertook its role and believes that the ANAO’s involvement increased transparency. However, it is important to note that by the end of the inquiry, all committee members agreed that it was not appropriate for the Auditor-General to be involved in the scrutiny of proposed advertising campaigns. They considered that it blurred the boundary between executive decision making and audit review. Some committee members were also concerned that a positive review report by the Auditor-General could be seen to be publicly endorsing government policy.

The inquiry was still in progress when the Special Minister of State announced on 31 March 2010, in response to the Independent Review of Government Advertising Arrangements, a refined framework for government campaign advertising. In consequence, the Auditor-General’s role in reviewing proposed advertising campaigns before their launch was abolished. Instead, the Auditor-General would be asked to conduct a performance audit on at least one campaign per year or the administration of the campaign advertising framework.

The committee seriously considered the option of continuing to scrutinise government advertising, due to it being such a subjective area of government spending. The committee concluded, however, that the Auditor-General’s forward works program is likely to achieve this same purpose. That being said, the committee will take particular note of the Auditor-General’s forthcoming report regarding the implementation of the new system.

As a result of the inquiry, the committee considers that any substantial proposed changes to the role of the Auditor-General in future should be first reviewed by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit on behalf of the parliament and not effectively implied by executive announcement. This would more properly reflect the Auditor-General’s standing as an independent officer of the parliament. The committee believes that many of the difficulties with the advertising function discussed in this report would have been picked up earlier if such a process had been followed. The committee has, therefore, made one recommendation to exactly this effect.

In closing, I commend the chair of the previous committee, Ms Sharon Grierson, and all committee members on the work of this inquiry and this report. The report is a comprehensive consideration of the issues surrounding the Auditor-General’s role in scrutinising government advertising. I commend the report to the House and move:

That the House take note of the report.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.