What the report is about The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (the Act) provides land rights over certain Crown land for Aboriginal Land Councils in NSW. If a claim is made over Crown land (land owned and managed by government) and meets other criteria under the Act, ownership of that land is to be transferred to the Aboriginal Land Council. This process is intended to provide compensation for the dispossession of land from Aboriginal people in N

What the report is about The term ‘machinery of government’ refers to the way government functions and responsibilities are organised. The decision to make machinery of government changes is made by the Premier. Changes may be made for a range of reasons, including to support the policy and/or political objectives of the government of the day. Larger machinery of government changes typically occur after an election or a change of Premier. This report

What the report is about The Auditor-General's review analyses claims made by members of the NSW Parliament during the 2020–21 financial year by testing a sample of transactions. Our sample consisted of 67 claims submitted by 52 of the 137 members. What we found While we did not identify any instances of material non-compliance with the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal's Determination, we did identify 31 departures from the Determination, which wer

What the report is about This audit assessed nine agencies’ compliance with the NSW Cyber Security Policy (CSP) including whether, during the year to 30 June 2020, the participating agencies: met their reporting obligations under the CSP reported accurate self-assessments of their level of maturity implementing the CSP’s requirements including the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) Essential 8. What we found Key elements to strengthen cyber se

What the report is about The movement of freight contributes $66 billion annually to the NSW economy. Two thirds of all freight in NSW moves through Greater Sydney, and the volume of freight moving through Greater Sydney is expected to increase by 48 per cent by 2036. This audit assessed the effectiveness of transport agencies in improving the use of rail freight capacity in Greater Sydney, and to meet current and future freight demand. What we found

What the report is about This audit assessed whether adults in custody have effective access to health services. The audit examined the activities of Justice Health and Corrective Services NSW. What we found The majority of custodial patients receive timely health care, but a small proportion of patients are not receiving care within target timeframes. Eleven per cent of scheduled health appointments are not attended, and agencies can do more to unde

What the report is about This report assessed how effectively the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) and NSW Treasury have supported state agencies to manage climate risks to their assets and services. Climate risks that can impact on state agencies' assets and services include flooding, bushfires, and extreme temperatures. Impacts can include damage to transport, communications and energy infrastructure, increases in hospital admi

The NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is intended to offset impacts on biodiversity due to development (for example: roads, buildings, and other infrastructure) that cannot otherwise be avoided. It aims to do this through in-perpetuity stewardship agreements with landholders to better manage biodiversity, generating credits that offset obligations created by development. This audit will assess whether the Department of Planning and Environment and the Bio

What the report is about This report examines the effectiveness of the Fast-tracked Assessment Program, administered by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) between April 2020 and October 2020.  The program aimed to support the construction industry during the COVID-19 crisis by accelerating the final assessment stages for planning proposals and development applications.  DPIE selected projects and planning proposals for fast tr

In February 2019 the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation launched the NSW Cyber Security Policy to ensure all NSW Government departments and public service agencies are managing cyber security risks to their information and systems. The policy mandates a number of requirements that are a minimum that all agencies must implement. In addition agencies must assess their level of cyber maturity. This audit will examine whether agencies are complyi