Government Advertising 2017-18

The State Insurance Regulatory Authority’s (SIRA) ‘green slip refund’ campaign, and the TAFE semester one 2018 student recruitment campaign, complied with most requirements of the Government Advertising Act 2011 and the Government Advertising Guidelines, according to a report released today by the Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford.

However, neither campaign met all their key objectives, limiting their overall effectiveness. While the green slip refund campaign was able to achieve its targets around raising awareness of the refunds and encouraging people to make their claim online, the campaign did little to inform people about the full range of compulsory third party insurance reforms. TAFE achieved its targets relating to changing the perception of TAFE, but the campaign did not achieve its objective of reaching TAFE’s enrolment target.

Contrary to policy, SIRA directly negotiated with the supplier of its campaign creative materials. Consequently, SIRA was not able to demonstrate that its campaign was economical.

The Government Advertising Act 2011 requires the Auditor-General to conduct an annual performance audit of one or more government agencies to see whether their advertising activities were carried out in an effective, economical and efficient manner and in compliance with the Government Advertising Act 2011.

Further information

Barry Underwood, Director, Office of the Auditor-General, on 0403 073 664 and email barry.underwood@audit.nsw.gov.au.