Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present Report 487: annual report 2020-21.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—During the past year the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit—or the JCPAA, as we all know it as in the committee—tabled five reports, worked on five further inquiries, considered the budget estimates for the Australian National Audit Office and the Parliamentary Budget Office twice, determined the audit priorities of the parliament, and continued its role in providing accountability and transparency to the public administration of the Commonwealth.

I'm conscious that this is perhaps our last presentation of an annual report for this session of the parliament and I do just want to take a moment—if you'll indulge me, Deputy Speaker—to acknowledge the important work that this committee does for the parliament. It's not a committee I had sat on prior to 2019, but it is a committee that I have grown to have enormous respect for. I have found it to be an incredible honour to participate in the work of this committee, and I thank the committee membership for allowing me to serve as their chair. I'd also like to note that committees such as this really do demonstrate some of the best of the ways that parliament can work.

I would like to take the opportunity to place on record my thanks and acknowledgment to the deputy chair, the member for Bruce, who is in the chamber, who I suspect does not know what I'm about to say. I do want to say to the member for Bruce that I very much appreciate the way in which we have worked together over the course of this term of the parliament. I had perhaps not spoken to you many times before we became colleagues on this committee. We had to work together in quite a close, and what became a very collegiate, manner. I want to thank you personally for your stewardship. I want to thank you for the very professional manner in which you approached the fulsome work of this committee and the way in which we were able to almost always reach agreement or at least consensus on matters that were before the committee. There was often very robust debate, as there should be, and yet I think both of us sought to uphold the bipartisan nature of this committee on behalf of this parliament. I will remember this as something that reflects extremely well on the very best of Australian democracy, the very best of how this parliament should work. To the member for Bruce, I do thank you personally and also on behalf of the committee for all of your contributions and your advice and, as I said, the whole approach of this entire committee over the many different reports and considerations we have had to give.

There were a number of reports that were tabled by this committee into a wide range of topics. Another aspect of this committee that I hadn't actually appreciated until I served as the chair was the breadth of topic and scope that this committee looks into, inquires into, and undertakes. It has been a tremendous learning experience, but also one that I hope will serve me well in the months, and I hope years, to come. Some of the reports include reports and inquiries into, for instance, the operations of the Parliamentary Budget Office, Defence's acquisition of equipment, the administration of grants programs, and the cyber-resilience of Commonwealth agencies.

It was interesting to see different members of the committee taking different particular interests in the various topics. Over the course of this term of parliament we've really seen a strong participation from all committee members in the various reports and the various inquiries. I really want to place on record my thanks and appreciation to all of the committee members for all of their efforts and endeavours. I really do think that it has made many of the recommendations and the reports quite robust. Again, it is a great example of the best of the operations of committees such as this. It really is a great honour and privilege to participate in them.

Of course, the last two years have not always been the easiest, particularly with the restrictions coming with COVID-19 and many of the ways we've had to adapt quickly. Perhaps it took a little bit of time to refacilitate things onto videoconferencing and some of these other things, but I think we have actually adapted to that quite quickly. I note that we actually ended up meeting more times than the average over recent parliamentary years; I think we met 28 times in 2020-21. We really did undertake the role of the committee very seriously while still working within the restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. But because of the pandemic many of the committee's public hearings and private meetings took place remotely.

I also note that 2021 marks 70 years since the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act received royal assent. For seven decades this committee, the JCPAA, has played what I believe is an incredibly important role in the parliament's oversight of Commonwealth agencies. As I indicated when I commenced my remarks, the committee has really continued to work in a collegial, non-partisan way, and I really do thank all of my fellow committee members for their dedication to the committee and to its work. I have mentioned the deputy chair, the member for Bruce. I also thank the member for Moncrieff, who was here in the chamber just earlier; the member for Boothby; Senator Kitching; Senator McLachlan; Senator O'Sullivan; Senator Patrick; the member for Canberra; Senator Scarr; the member for Jagajaga; the member for Bonner; Senator Walsh; the member for Gellibrand; and the member for O'Connor. The committee's inquiries and all of its activities over the 2020-21 financial year have really benefited from the contribution of all members, as has the work of the committee over the entire term of this parliament.

In closing, can I also pay special tribute to the committee secretariat for their tireless work. It is a big committee, we often have several inquiries underway at once and the workload can be quite intense. I thank every single one of them for their contribution, for their professionalism, for their expert advice and for their support to the committee. I particularly thank and express the committee's appreciation to committee secretary, Joel Bateman, who has really served this committee in an exemplary manner. We thank him very much for all of his tireless efforts. I commend this report to the House.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I will endorse all of the comments of the chair. It is an important committee. I'll make a few brief remarks to add to the comments made by the chair. The committee has been around for a very long time. I think the Audit Office was established in the very first year of the parliament. The Auditor-General works on behalf of the parliament in scrutinising the executive—a really important, somewhat archaic and at times arcane distinction, but the Auditor-General does work on behalf of the entire parliament in scrutinising expenditure.

It is a bit of a nerdy committee. It's a good one to go on if you actually want to have a magical mystery tour around government, because we have a statutory responsibility to consider every single audit report the Auditor-General puts forward, which covers the whole span of government. It's not for everyone. There's the workload, and some of the material can be dry, but I think the chair's remarks are spot on about the bipartisan tradition of this committee. It does require a bit of compromise and negotiation, and that's no bad thing. I think the general public don't see the work that goes on in committees. Overwhelmingly, but with a few notable exceptions at times, the work in committees is conducted in a respectful, sensible way and most stuff is agreed on—I think as you, when you were not in the chair just a few moments ago, remarked as well, Deputy Speaker Bird.

I thank the chair for those very kind words. I must say, I think that's terrible for our reputations! It's fair to say the chair likes working with me far more in her capacity as chair of the committee than when she's sitting in the Speaker's chair! It is a relationship built on trust as colleagues, and that trust has not been breached; I think that is really important. It's often a less understood part of getting stuff done around here—that you have to be able to shake someone's hand and have it mean something. It's old-fashioned for many.

I also thank the secretary. I made some remarks in last year's tabling statement for the committee that the committee was at that point seriously under-resourced, and I thank the secretary for guiding us through that period. I also thank the assistant clerk for giving the secretary those extra couple of positions and getting staff on board to deal with the workload.

I also thank the Audit Office and the Auditor-General, who support the work of the committee; they are always available. We had a record number of meetings this year—not always very long meetings. We had 28 meetings, and 28 is my favourite number, so I was very happy to hear that in the report; that's lovely. The Auditor-General is a source of counsel, advice and prudent insights, and I think he does a terrific job on behalf of the parliament. I think it's a topic for another day, but, frankly, I think the parliament could make more use of the Auditor-General, particularly through the estimates process, and some of the other committees could develop a habit of drawing on the expertise and work done by the Audit Office. In other parliaments, like the UK and elsewhere, they draw on the audit office far more often, and frequently in the course of their policy work, and seek insights as part of inquiries. I think there is room to make better use of that investment there.

I want to make a couple of remarks on output. I said last year that the committee had done less work that year than in any recent year. There used to be a little tracking table in the annual report. Most annual reports have a table where they have a few metrics where you can look back over the previous years to see how you're going. That table disappeared last year—I think it would have been a bit embarrassing for the committee last year!—and I called on the committee to pick up the pace. I think we have done that in some respects. I'm trying to think of a parliamentary way to say 'constipated'; we should avoid scatological references wherever possible—I'm sure you'd agree, Deputy Speaker Bird! I'll say there is a lot of work gestating in the pipeline of the committee.

I briefly want to read into the Hansard what the table would have said. I will do this very efficiently; I think it is important to have this on the record. Over the last six financial years—2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21—there have been five key metrics. The total number of meetings held was 17, 19, 19, 19, 14 and 28. The number of public hearings—an important metric—was 12, eight, 10, 18, eight and nine; we could lift our game a little bit there. The number of reports tabled—this is a really important metric, on how much advice the committee gives to the parliament at the end of the day—was 10, four, nine, eight, two and five. So last year we had two reports. This year we had five. Those are still amongst the lowest numbers in the last six years, but there is a lot in the pipeline.

On Auditor-General reports selected for inquiry—I mentioned we have to consider every report the Auditor-General tables—the numbers were:12, 18, 15, two, 14 and 13. So we are getting better at shoving work into the pipeline now. The number of recommendations made were: 50 in 2015-16; 17 in 2016-17; 57 in 2017-18; 67—a bumper year—in 2018-19; 12 last year; and 23 this year. So there is a little bit of room for improvement there, but I can say with confidence now, as those stats on the reports selected for inquiry show, that there is a lot of work in the pipeline and that this year we are going to be tabling a bit of stuff out of session to be safe. This year will be a bumper year.

Importantly, the final thing I would note is that the 10-year review of the Auditor-General Act, which doesn't show up in those statistics, is nearing completion by the committee. That's been an enormous piece of work, having a look at the entire architecture of the Audit Office.

I thank all the committee members, the chair, the secretary and the ANAO. There will be lots of great tabling statements if we come back in February. You watch, Deputy Speaker Bird; we will rock this House with our tabling statements!

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I present Executive Minutes on report 484 of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit.