Reports
Actions for Industry, Skills, Electricity and Water 2016
Industry, Skills, Electricity and Water 2016
The Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford released a report today highlighting a decline in net profits of electricity agencies and the distributions the government received from these agencies. The report also details continuing issues in the management of Crown Land and TAFE NSW's student administration system.
Actions for Planning and Environment 2016
Planning and Environment 2016
Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford released a report on the planning and environment cluster today, concluding that the quality of financial reporting is improving. However, the cluster can improve its financial controls and governance framework.
Actions for Fraud Survey
Fraud Survey
In a report released today, the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford provides a snapshot of reported fraud in the NSW public sector and an analysis of NSW Government agencies’ fraud controls based on a survey of 102 agencies.
Actions for Sale and lease of Crown land
Sale and lease of Crown land
The management of the sale and lease of Crown land is not effective because oversight of decision-making is inadequate and community involvement is limited, according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.
The audit found limited oversight of sales and leases of Crown land by the Department of Industry - Lands. The Department has only just started monitoring whether tenants are complying with lease conditions, and does not have a clear view of what is happening on most leased Crown land. The majority of guidance provided to staff has not been updated in the past decade, contributing to staff not correctly implementing policies on rental rebates, unpaid rent, rent redeterminations and the direct negotiation of sales and leases on Crown land.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #273 - released 8 September 2016
Actions for Environmental Grants Administration
Environmental Grants Administration
We found many aspects of good grants management, particularly in the Trust. All of the programs we looked at are clearly aligned to the Government’s objective to improve environmental outcomes. The Trust also has good practices for allocating grants. Performance in respect of results was mixed although many grants delivered tangible benefits - homes were protected from floods, degraded waterways restored and endangered habitats protected.
Generally we found that while both Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water and the NSW Environmental Trust had a range of strategies to monitor grants these were not always applied consistently or effectively. Grant programs need to be regularly evaluated to see what is working and what can be done better.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #190 - released 26 August 2009
Actions for Grants Administration
Grants Administration
We found no significant difference in the funding of government and opposition electorates. However, more money was given to electorates that were safely held by the major parties. These seats received $1.29 for every dollar given to marginal and independent seats with government marginals getting the least. Electorates also receive different levels of funding according to which region they are in. Such variations may reflect valid agency objectives such as meeting State Plan targets or addressing socio-economic disadvantage.
But while agencies publish who gets what, they do not adequately evaluate or explain what grant programs have achieved. As a result, there is a risk that New South Wales may not get the best value for its spending. We recommend that agencies regularly evaluate their grant programs and publish the results.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #186 - released 6 May 2009
Actions for Sustaining Native Forest Operations
Sustaining Native Forest Operations
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 to 2023 using both native and plantation hardwood. However, the cost and difficulty of harvesting and hauling this timber is likely to increase over time. This presents a significant challenge for Forests NSW to manage.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #185 - released 29 April 2009