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Reports

Published

Actions for Handback of the M4 Tollway

Handback of the M4 Tollway

Transport
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management

This audit focuses on the M4 handback. It looks at whether the road will be in good condition when the State gets it back, and whether it will cope with the extra traffic after the toll is removed. These are critical issues for taxpayers and motorists. Taxpayers don’t want to be responsible for a large repair bill and motorists don’t want to be stuck in traffic jams. To ensure that future private sector partnerships (PPP) deal adequately with handb

Published

Actions for Administering Domestic Waterfront Tenancies

Administering Domestic Waterfront Tenancies

Planning
Transport
Management and administration
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration

The audit’s overall conclusion is that Lands and Maritime are broadly achieving outcomes consistent with the IPART report on administering domestic waterfront tenancies. But a lack of collaboration between the agencies is contributing to poor customer service. Inconsistencies with the IPART report recommendations and operational differences between the two agencies result in different rents and conditions for tenants in the two agencies. The differences

Published

Actions for Improving Road Safety: Heavy Vehicles

Improving Road Safety: Heavy Vehicles

Transport
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Regulation
Risk

The RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) approach to detecting and enforcing heavy vehicle safety has produced mixed results. There have been overall decreases in the number of crashes and people killed and injured in crashes involving heavy vehicles between 2002 and 2007. However, the number of crashes and the number of people injured have increased between 2006 and 2007. We recognise that the RTA is unable to prevent all crashes. However, we conside

Published

Actions for Sustaining Native Forest Operations

Sustaining Native Forest Operations

Industry
Management and administration
Procurement
Risk

We found that Forests NSW has adequate estimates of how much timber is available from native forests, now and into the future. It uses an industry accepted process to develop estimates, but more could be done to improve reliability. For instance, yield estimates for the South coast, Eden and Tumut are well overdue for review. We also found that Forests NSW should have sufficient timber to meet its wood supply commitments which are fixed for periods up t

Published

Actions for Protecting our Rivers

Protecting our Rivers

Environment
Industry
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Regulation
Shared services and collaboration

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 Pl

Published

Actions for Managing the Amalgamation of the Greyhound and Harness Racing Regulatory Authority

Managing the Amalgamation of the Greyhound and Harness Racing Regulatory Authority

Industry
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management
Shared services and collaboration
Workforce and capability

The Authority has achieved staff reductions and salary related savings in line with targets. That said, the amalgamation was not project managed effectively. It has been slow to implement some of its key objectives against plans and the costs of the amalgamation have increased to the extent that it is unable to meet key objectives. Stakeholders are dissatisfied with the amalgamation outcomes. This dissatisfaction would have been mitigated with bette

Published

Actions for Managing Departmental Amalgamations

Managing Departmental Amalgamations

Industry
Finance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration

Both Commerce and DPI substantially achieved their stated amalgamation savings objectives as set by government. The departments are expected to achieve savings targets of about $150 million and $190 million respectively over their first four years. Our analysis indicates that there are two key factors in successful amalgamations. The first is effective early planning by departments based on clear objectives, supported by quick action. Second, significant

Published

Actions for Review of Eastern Distributor

Review of Eastern Distributor

Transport
Infrastructure
Procurement
Project management

Following a resolution of the Legislative Council, the Audit Office has undertaken a performance audit of the Eastern Distributor. For a number of reasons, The Audit Office is not in the position to determine “whether the proposed toll and concession period represents the best deal”. In part this is the result of time constraints which do not allow a careful analysis of many toll and concession options. Similarly, the audit does not answer “whether

Published

Actions for Redundancy arrangements

Redundancy arrangements

Industry
Planning
Compliance
Management and administration
Workforce and capability

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 offere

Published

Actions for Review of NSW Agriculture

Review of NSW Agriculture

Industry
Asset valuation
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Workforce and capability

Following a request from the NSW Legislative Council in September 1996, a performance audit into various matters affecting the operation of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture was undertaken by The Audit Office. Among the recommendations from this report, the Audit Office found that: An economic appraisal should be undertaken before all major developments, including rationalisation plans, are implemented. It should include details of anti