Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to discuss the 495th report of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit and the subsequent government response. I've had the privilege of being the deputy chair of this committee for this term of government, and I am in awe of what this committee does. It's not well known, but it is one of the most longstanding committees in this parliament and it performs a critically important role in holding government departments accountable to the parliament for how they operate, spend taxpayers' money and deliver the services they are mandated and paid to deliver on behalf of the Australian taxpayers. Also, very importantly, it promotes probity and transparency.

This report is innocuously titled Report 495: inquiry into Commonwealth grants administration. This inquiry focused on Commonwealth government grants and the administration of the grants, with a view to strengthening the integrity of how government departments administer grants. Tens of thousands of grants that cost tens of billions of dollars every year are awarded across the Commonwealth, and I think it's very safe to observe, in layman's language, that there is a lot that needs to be done to improve both the administration and the transparency and integrity of the process. It's important from this parliament's perspective and also the perspective of Australian taxpayers that the grants frameworks themselves ensure best value for the nation and for the Australian taxpayers, who pay for these services.

The report outlines several key concerns as well as recommendations to deal with them. Time doesn't allow for a detailed review of them all, but the key concerns were that there wasn't always a fair allocation of funding; the differences between merit based and non-competitive processes, in terms of how departments administered election commitments; merit assessments and the record keeping, or the lack of record keeping, by the bureaucracies of those processes; how exemptions from Commonwealth grant rules were used; and straight-out maladministration of grants programs.

The report's recommendations emphasise the need for stronger accountability, transparency and fairness in government grant processes. Some of the key points were pretty basic, but it's a bit surprising that we had to remind the public sector that they had to ensure decision-makers follow the existing guidelines, that they had to actually define election commitments in grant programs and that they actually had to prioritise competitive and merit based processes. We also found that transparency must be upheld by documenting all stages of decision-making and providing ministers with the appropriate information on grants processes. Coalition members of the committee agreed with the recommendations of the report on how to reform grant administration, but we did express concern about the politically charged tone of the report. It was, unfortunately, somewhat abused, I believe, for political purposes about former government ministers.

I would also note that the inquiry found no maladministration nor inappropriate behaviour by any minister despite the then chair's often public remarks about former ministers. While that was a bit of an unfortunate aspect to this report, I would emphasise again that, while urgent reforms are necessary, there were no findings of illegality by public officials or ministers from the previous government, as Labor alleged. However, secretaries who appeared before the committee did acknowledge that, with respect to their processes in supporting ministers of the day, ministers were let down on numerous occasions by faulty advice and just by a lack of information or incorrect advice. Sadly, I think that may well extend to ministers in this government.

The committee welcomes the government's decision to adopt most of the recommendations on how to improve Commonwealth grants administration. I thank the numerous contributors to the inquiry but particularly the committee secretariat, who do an extraordinary job on behalf of this parliament, the public sector and all Australians.

Question agreed to.