There are many public inquiries and reviews into the government’s policy decisions and administration every year. Key sources of public inquiries and reviews include parliamentary committees, the Coroner, the Ombudsman, ICAC, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and the Auditor-General. Other sources include statutory reviews of legislation, other reviews that the government has elected to make public and, more infrequently, special commissions of inqu

The WestConnex project is a motorway project that will link the M4 and M5 motorways with 33km of new motorway tunnels in Sydney. We conducted a performance audit of the WestConnex business case review process in 2014. Since then, the scope and projects included in WestConnex have changed. This audit will assess whether Transport for NSW and Infrastructure NSW effectively assessed and justified major scope changes to the WestConnex project since December

Freight is a critical component of the New South Wales economy. It is currently estimated to be worth nearly $66.0 billion a year to the economy. The economic growth and prosperity of New South Wales depends on the safe, efficient and reliable movement of goods. The NSW Government Future Transport 2056 strategy estimates that by 2056, 12 million people will live in New South Wales, and freight volumes will double in the Greater Sydney area and increase b

The 2019–20 bushfire emergencies, and the COVID-19 pandemic have had a significant impact on the people and public sector of New South Wales. The scale of government responses to both events has also been significant and has encompassed a wide range of activities, service delivery, governance and policy. Significant resources have been directed for emergency responses, and in assisting rebuilding and economic recovery. Some systems and processes have cha

Business continuity and disaster recovery planning assists organisations to prepare for and ensure they can respond to an incident or crisis. This includes natural disasters and pandemic events like COVID-19. Ideally, business continuity plans would ensure organisations are prepared to respond effectively to the impact of incidents or crises on a wide range of areas including service delivery, safety and availability of staff, availability of IT and othe

The Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network delivers health care to adults and young people in contact with the forensic mental health and criminal justice systems. The Network supports a highly vulnerable patient population across community, inpatient and custodial settings. Its patients can include people with many and complex health needs and significant increases in the adult custodial population may have placed additional demands on the de

New South Wales has a lot of councils providing similar services to the community, such as domestic waste and stormwater management services. However, the charges for these common services vary greatly between councils. This audit could examine selected common charges across a number of councils to understand what is driving the variability in charges.

The NSW Government’s Climate Change Policy Framework aims to maximise the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of NSW in the context of a changing climate. It states long-term aspirational objectives of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and having NSW more resilient to a changing climate. The Framework is due to be reviewed in 2020. This audit could assess specific commitments to change government operations such as implementing emission savin

People living in many regional areas of New South Wales have few or no public transport options, with many relying on taxis and buses servicing small areas. Residents who want to participate in employment, education, recreation or access health services outside their areas must use private vehicles. This limits the mobility and opportunities of many people who do not have access to private vehicles. As part of its Future Transport 2056 strategy the NSW G

The NSW Government included reducing domestic and family violence reoffending as a Premier’s Priority in 2015. The 2016–17 Budget announced $300 million over four years for early intervention programs, crisis responses, and new approaches intended to change perpetrator behaviour. This audit may consider whether agency responses are effectively responding to domestic and family violence and may be undertaken as a series of audits looking at how different