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

Both the University of New South Wales' Internal Audit and HR reports identified serious deficiencies in the operation and management of the Education Training Centre (ETC). This performance audit verified those findings where appropriate, and they are referred to or incorporated within this report. In addition, we identified other weaknesses that are also presented here. All the findings point to a serious lack of management controls, proper accountability and management practices within ETC.

The Audit Office has a concern whether other activities within the University, or indeed within any other university, could be functioning with similar lack of corporate governance and accountability arrangements. The Audit Office considers that there is an urgent need for the University, and for other universities, to review their corporate governance and accountability framework.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #91 - released 21 November 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

This performance audit indicates that the Service has considerable work to do to reach its aspirations of being recognised amongst leading examples of best practice services. The commitment of the Service to serving the community and the professionalism of the Service's officers is not in question. It is, however, apparent that a number of barriers to performance will need to be overcome for the Service to perform as well as it would wish.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #80 - released 7 March 2001

There have been notable changes in the provision of emergency department services over the last decade, principally by increasing the number, seniority and training of staff and upgrading facilities. More recently, programs have focussed on achieving improvements in emergency department waiting times (the time taken to see a doctor) and access block (delay in accessing a hospital bed). However, these programs have had limited effect. Although waiting times for seriously ill patients have decreased, waiting times for around 95% of emergency department patients have increased or remain unchanged and performance against benchmarks for access block has declined each year.

Although The Audit Office identified opportunities to improve patient flow in the emergency department, benefits will be limited by access block and the congestion caused by being unable to move patients to a ward. Only a better balance of resources between inpatient access programs (that is booked and emergency department patients) will bring about improvements in access block.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #72 - released 15 March 2000

The Audit Office is of the opinion that, whilst all universities have developed policies to manage POW and to protect IP rights, many of those polices are outdated and require urgent review. Many of them do not adequately protect the universities or provide adequate compensation for the use of their resources or their name. There also seems to be a lack of clarity for accountability to monitor and enforce the policy. Whilst greater attention seems to have been given to protect the intellectual property rights, which mainly arise as a consequence of research projects, there is a need to review and revisit those policies as well.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #71 - released 7 February 2000