accountability of the executive: through the auditor general and the AAT

auditor general definition

an independent public officer of the parliament, who is the head of the Australian national audit office (ANAO)

responsibility of the auditor general

to audit the commonwealth entities (govt departments, agencies eg) and report to the Australian parliament

appointment of the auditor general

• appointed by the GG on PM advise

• appointment must be approved by the joint committee of public accounts and audit (JCPAA)

• appointed for 10 years

2 specific main functions of auditor general

1. auditing financial statements of Commonwealth entities, commonwealth companies and their subsidiaries

2. Conducting performance audits, assurance reviews, and audits of performance measures, of commonwealth entities and commonwealth companies and their subsidiaries (investigating anything they've done like not related to money directly eg sports rorts)

3 types of audits

1. performance audits

2. financial audits

3. assurance reviews

performance audits

an inspection of the way a government department or agency carries out its day to day business. main goal is to ensure effectiveness and efficiency, and to inform parliament whether public money is being spent effectively and outcomes are being met.

anything within a department/agency may be audited, even stuff like contracts and HR management

financial audits

• audits that specifically check the financial statements and records of a government department agency

• each year, each govt department and agency is allocated a certain amount of money, and thus financial audits ensure that the spending of that money is accountable and overseen

• Inefficiency and corruption may thus be found out

assurance reviews

• The Australian public service is governed by a) public service act, b) the public service standards, and c) code of conduct.

• A key function of the auditor general is to ensure that these laws, standards and guidelines are followed within all government entities

• As laws and policies change continuously, assurance reviews simply ensure that departments/agencies are up to date

example of a performance review

SPORTS RORTS SCANDAL 2020

• scandal regarded the community sports infrastructure grant program

• liberal party candidate for in the 2019 election, Georgina Downer, was photographed presenting a cheque of $127373 to the Yankaillia bowling club which had not been approved by the govt nor sports australia. She wasnt even in parliament and trying to hand out the money

• shadow attorney requested the ANAO to investigate this program

• ANAO did so and found and reportted in 2020 that 41% of projects approved by the minister, bridget mckensize, were not on the preliminary list endorsed by sports australia

• and, 70% of recommeneded projects by sports australia were not approved by the minister

• alleged and found that the minister had approved projectswith electoral gain in mind.

• Didnt resign because of this, as auditor gneral cant make you resign

tribunals v courts

not courts, do not have judicial power.

courts assess the lawfulness of stuff, whether it breaks the law, and tribunals conduct merit review to determine whether a decision was fair.

• Courts can be expensive, strict, delayed. Tribunals emphasise fairness, informality, efficiency, timeliness, and economy

• No lawyers

AAT jurisdiction (3)

• child support

• taxation

• NDIS

lund family AAT example

• moved to aus in 2013, 5 years later applied for permanent residency

• Application rejected by the government because one of their children had down syndrome, failing the strict health requirement

• Appealed decision to AAT, overturned decision and requested it to be reviewed by the department

  

robodebt AAT example

• robodebt was an automated algorithm debt recovery system, whos aim was to stop welfare overpayments and people cheating the centrelink system

• It used an 'income averaging' algorithm, which just average everyones income even if they only worked say for 1 month a year. This meant people had false debts

• To challenge debts, recipients had to produce proof (wrong cause prosecution has burden of proof)

• From 2016-2019: 1700 robodebt decisions appealed to AAT; more than a third were overturned

• AAT warned government that robodebt may be unlawful, govt ignored warnings

stacking of the AAT bad example

• in the howard and rudd/gillard rudd govts, political appointee accounted for 6% and 5% of all appointees in at AAT

• In Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison governments, political appointees accounted for 32% of all new appointments

• also have to be a lawyer, and from 1995-2015 there was only 1 non qualified person appointed but from 2016 their was 7 (all politcial appointees too)

• 65 of 333 AAT decision making members had a relation to the liberal party (donors, ex candidates etc)

• 24 of 65 liberal appointees didnt have qualitfications

• vast majority were appointed without a transparent selection process (no job application and stuff)

AAT abolishment

• because of the stacking, labors election promise was to abolish it if they won 2022 election

• they did, so in oct 2024 AAT was replaced by administrative review tribunal

• biggest reform was that appointments had to be transparant and merit based

• The main reforms were to stop the backlog of cases, but a article came out that their still is a massive backlog. justice delayed is justice denied

how much % of politcal appointees did rudd/gillard /rudd and howard have in at AAT

6+5

how much % of politcal appointees did abbott/turnball/morrison have in at AAT

32

how many no law degree appointments was there from 1995-2016 to the AAT

1

how many no law degree appointments was there from 2016 to the AAT

7

how many AAT decision making members had a relation to the liberla party

65/333

how many of the liberal related members didnt have a law degree

24 of 65