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COMMITTEE'S CONSIDERATION

In its Report No. 44, 57th Parliament – Examination of Auditor-General Reports, tabled on 21 April 2023, the committee reported on its consideration of a number of Auditor-General's reports referred to it, including Auditor-General Report 4: 2022-23 - 2022 status of Auditor-General's recommendations.  The committee did not resolve to hold further inquiries into these audit reports and made no recommendations to the Legislative Assembly.

Overview

Role of the Auditor-General 

The role of the Auditor-General is to provide Parliament with independent assurance of public sector accountability and performance. This is achieved through reporting to Parliament on the results of its financial and performance audits and other insights.

About the Auditor-General Report

View:  Auditor-General Report 4: 2022-23 - 2022 status of Auditor-General recommendations

The Auditor-General’s report to Parliament No. 4: 2022-23—2022 status of Auditor-General recommendations (Report 4) summarises the progress made by entities in addressing the Auditor-General’s recommendations. The Auditor-General asked 56 entities to report on 454 individual recommendations from 34 QAO reports to parliament. 

This report summarises entities’ progress in implementing recommendations from 2018–19 and 2019–20, and outstanding recommendations (partially implemented and not implemented recommendations) from last year’s report.

The report covers:

• 343 recommendations from 17 reports tabled in 2018–19 and 2019–20
• 111 recommendations from reports tabled between 2015–16 and 2017–18, reported as outstanding (partially implemented and not implemented) in last year’s 2021 status of Auditor-General recommendations report.

Based on 5 years in the role and the findings of Report 4, the Auditor-General identified the following four areas as vital to addressing the strategic risks facing the public sector:

• strengthening governance and oversight
• using information technology and data better
• managing contracts and projects effectively
• understanding the impact of government restructuring.

To address these issues, the Auditor-General states effective leadership within public sector entities, and the need for entities to accept change and learn from past experiences to improve the delivery of public services, are key.

Referral to Committee

Standing Order 194B provides that the Committee of the Legislative Assembly shall as soon as practicable after a report of the Auditor-General is tabled in the Assembly refer that report to the relevant portfolio committee(s) for consideration.  

The committee is responsible under section 94 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 for assessing the integrity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government financial management by examining government financial documents and considering reports of the Auditor-General.

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General’s report to the committee on 10 November 2022.