The Audit Office is of the opinion that the basis for environmental impact assessment of major projects in NSW is sound. The key concept of 'environmental significance' is well defined. The system is closely specified. The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning (DUAP) leads a whole-of-government approach to environmental impact assessment and its assessments are comprehensive. However, the Audit Office considers that there are opportunities for improvement by more actively managing the participants and the performance of the environmental impact assessment system. DUAP needs to strengthen its internal documentation and must ensure the public have greater involvement.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #92 - released 28 November 2001

Notwithstanding the considerable effort, it is not apparent that the Government's vision can be fully achieved without increased efforts. Based on the current position, to ensure that the Government's vision can be achieved the Audit Office is of the view that the following key issues need to be urgently addressed: 

• more robust mechanisms are needed to monitor, review and report publicly on progress and benefits

• a greater emphasis should be placed on central coordination to ensure that agencies act in a more uniform and integrated manner  

• the achievement of significant reform of business processes will require a substantial strengthening of accountability mechanisms and more comprehensive, rigorous and systematic approaches to e-government project and risk management. 

• despite an array of guidance material and support provided by central agencies, line agency needs for assistance do not seem to be being met to sufficiently advance matters across the sector at the pace and scope desired

• the Government’s e-government aspirations and funding are not always effectively harmonised. Agencies typically have limited resources available to trial or experience new technologies, and display an aversion to the associated risks.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #87 - released 19 September 2001

The acceptance of audit recommendations by agencies in the current review was high and represented 96 per cent of the recommendations made. In addition, half of the recommendations in the 1998 audits have been adequately addressed and for over 70 per cent of recommendations there has been some measurable change in practices or performance.

But overall, most of these improvements have been incremental. And, for nearly one third of the recommendations, changes have not yet taken effect and there is a risk that the issue or problem contained in the original reports may persist. There is also a danger that current reporting arrangements may not provide Parliament sufficient assurance as to the extent accepted recommendations have been implemented and improvements have been achieved. 

To provide greater transparency and accountability, agencies, following a performance audit, should establish arrangements, such as an audit committee, to follow up on the progress of implementation of the recommendations and report on the progress of the implementation of recommendations in their annual report to Parliament.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #84 - released 21 June 2001

Correctional Industries (CIs) have come a long way in NSW.  CIs have grown to employ rates of inmates which rank amongst the highest in the world.  This is a commendable achievement by the Department. Whilst there are other notable achievements to date, the Audit Office believes that CIs have developed to a stage where they can, and should, tackle even more challenging issues.

The audit is found that to optimise the development of inmates for employability purposes, further actions are needed to improve CIs’ effectiveness. Among these is the option to shift the inmate development focus towards providing inmates with broader, foundational employability skills which are transferable to the wide variety of work they may pursue upon release. There would also be benefit in using more specific performance indicators to monitor and assess CIs’ achievements against this objective.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #83 - released 13 June 2001

The regulatory framework introduced under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, along with other initiatives progressively being implemented by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), should enhance the overall effectiveness of environment protection in NSW. The Audit Office is of the opinion that the framework is consistent with best practice and once fully implemented, should contribute to the achievement of further improvements in the environmental performance of industry.

However while the legislative framework supports best practice in regulation and enforcement, there are a number of issues which limit the effectiveness of the reforms. Some of the problems, such as the quality of licences and the effectiveness of compliance activities, have been identified by the EPA and may be addressed through recent initiatives.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #82 - released 18 April 2001

The Audit Office considers that having regard to the audit findings and the recommendations by the Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts in Queensland, the Governments should review the arrangements relating to the administration of solicitors’ clients’ monies in New South Wales. The Audit Office considers that such a review should examine particularly the separation of the Law Society’ role as an administrator of funds not invested on clients’ behalf from that of representing the legal profession.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #41 - released 30 June 1997

The audit reviewed policies and practices in large government and non-government residential centres to determine if policies and practices protected the human and legal rights, safety and dignity of residents.

The report indicates that practices in both government and non-government centres fail to protect adequately the human and legal rights, safety and dignity of residents. Factors contributing to this situation are the absence of minimum criteria for the protection of residents’ human and legal rights, safety and dignity, inadequate policies to direct service delivery, the absence of staff training to reinforce practices, low levels of supervision and the absence of effective monitoring systems to trigger a response to service deficiencies. Even where policies have been developed to guide practices, the nature of institutional care (the environment renders some policies ineffective), inadequate implementation, inadequate monitoring of practices and lack of compliance results in the centre’s failure to protect people living there.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #40 - released 26 June 1997

Improving immunisation levels has been a policy priority for NSW and Commonwealth governments since the early 1990s. Along with other States they are pursuing a range of initiatives aimed at reaching immunisation target levels above 95% by the year 2000. At such levels, the occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases is minimised and their spread prevented.

There is considerable support for this policy from the public, the medical profession and all levels of government. However, like much in public health, it depends for its success on effective cooperation between many participants, both nationally and locally, with competing demands on their time and resources.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #38 - released 12 June 1997

The audit identified that overall the agencies had carried out the redundancy process satisfactorily and the process, with some exceptions, complied with Government and internal policies. Government policy states that performance problems should be dealt with by managing the performance of the employee rather than restructuring/redundancy processes. In a limited number of instances certain employees, whose performance had been questioned, had been offered and accepted voluntary redundancy.

The audit also indicates that the process of redundancies has resulted in lower salary costs, in real dollar terms, without undue increase in either overtime or consultancy costs nor any detrimental effect on service quality. However, it is noted that the decrease in staffing levels occurred exclusively in the non-budget sector. Budget sector staffing levels increased by 1.4 per cent during 1989-95. There are also signs that the need for and the benefits arising out of redundancies are not well planned or measured. The need for redundancies often arises from a desire to reduce staff related costs while there is no comparison of the costs of redundancy compared to benefits.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #37 - released 17 April 1997