The Government’s WRAPP initiative has achieved its intended outcome. The public sector has reduced the proportion of waste going to landfill from 27 per cent to eight per cent over the last six years, and has increased its use of recycled content materials. Most agencies have played their part, identifying how waste can be reduced and changing practices accordingly.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #181 - released 11 June 2008

At the time of our 2003 audit agencies were unable to measure the water quality in NSW rivers as they had not established a comprehensive and ongoing monitoring system for water quality. Agencies are now developing a monitoring system to measure the progress against the State Plan 2006 target to improve the condition of riverine ecosystems by 2015. It may not be possible to identify an overall trend in the condition of riverine ecosystems by the State Plan target date of 2015. This is because riverine ecosystems do not respond rapidly to change in the environment. A long period of time is required to collect sufficient data to establish a baseline for all indicators being used and to determine trends, particularly given the prolonged drought.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #180 - released 21 May 2008

The Olympic Coordination Authority (OCA) has made a concerted and commendable effort in preparing the Games Budget within the definition of expenditure for the Games approved by the Government. OCA has also effectively used the definition of cost to control claims made by government agencies against the estimates to host the Games.

However, because the Games Budget was prepared in accordance with that definition, the Games Budget arguably does not capture the overall expenditure associated with the Games, as required by the Olympic Co-Ordination Authority Act. Accordingly, the taxpayers of NSW do not have a complete picture of the costs for hosting the Games.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #62 - released 14 January 1999