Reports
Actions for Members’ additional entitlements 2024
Members’ additional entitlements 2024
This report will analyse whether members of New South Wales Parliament complied with requirements outlined in the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal’s Determination.
Actions for Implementation of the Closing the Gap Agreement in NSW
Implementation of the Closing the Gap Agreement in NSW
The NSW Premier signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the Agreement) on behalf of New South Wales in July 2020. The Agreement is intended to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and achieve outcomes in areas including child protection, justice, health, housing and education. The Agreement proposes an approach to implementation that focuses on genuine partnership, shared decision-making and governance.
This audit will assess the effectiveness of the governance arrangements for the implementation of the Agreement. Areas of focus will include the governance structure for overseeing the Agreement in NSW and the governance policies and processes for supporting the implementation of the agreement.
Actions for Unsolicited proposals
Unsolicited proposals
NSW Government policy allows it to consider and accept unsolicited proposals from non-public sector entities, in line with the Unsolicited Proposals Guide for Submission and Assessment (May 2022). This may include proposals to finance or build infrastructure, provide goods and services, and undertake major commercial transactions.
This audit will assess the effectiveness, integrity and probity of the unsolicited proposals process.
Actions for Design and administration of the WestInvest program
Design and administration of the WestInvest program
What this report is about
WestInvest is a $5 billion funding program announced in September 2021 to provide ‘local infrastructure to help communities hit hard by COVID-19’ in 15 local government areas (LGAs) selected by the government. It was divided into three parts: $3 billion for NSW government agency projects; $1.6 billion for competitive grants to councils and community groups; and $400 million for non-competitive grants to councils.
Following the change of government at the 2023 election, the program was renamed the Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants Program. Funding decisions made for the community and local government grants were retained, but multiple funding decisions for the NSW government projects were changed.
The audit objective was to assess the integrity of the design and implementation of the program and the award of program funding.
Findings
The design of the program lacked integrity because it was not informed by robust research or analysis to justify the commitment of public money to a program of this scale.
The then government did not have sufficient regard to the implications for the state's credit rating. A risk to the credit rating arose because the government may have been perceived to be using proceeds from major asset sales to fund new expenditure, rather than pay down its debt.
Decisions about program design were made by the then Treasurer's office without consultation with affected communities. The rationale for these decisions was not documented or made public.
For the NSW government projects, funding allocations did not follow advice from departments. Many funded projects did not meet the objectives of the program.
The two other rounds of the program were administered effectively, except for some gaps in documentation and quality assurance. The program guidelines did not require an equitable or needs-based distribution of funding across LGAs and there was a significant imbalance in funding between the 15 LGAs.
Recommendations
Our recommendations for the administration of future funding programs included:
- considering whether competitive grants are the best way to achieve the program's purpose
- completing program design and guidelines before announcements
- ensuring adequate quality assurance.
We also recommended that when providing advice for submissions by Ministers to Cabinet, agencies should ensure that departmental advice is clearly identified and is distinct from other advice or political considerations.
WestInvest is a $5 billion funding program that was announced in September 2021. The program was established with the stated aim of building ‘new and improved facilities and local infrastructure to help communities hit hard by COVID-19’.
WestInvest was divided into three funding streams:
- $3 billion NSW government projects round open to NSW government agencies
- $1.6 billion community projects competitive round administered as a competitive grant program that was open to local councils, non-government organisations, Local Aboriginal Land Councils, and educational institutions in the 15 eligible LGAs
- $400 million local government projects round administered as a non-competitive grant round only open to the 15 eligible councils, with each council receiving a pre-determined share of the $400 million.
The WestInvest program was administered by NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department (previously the Department of Premier and Cabinet). Decisions about funding allocations were made by the former Treasurer in his role as the statutory decision-maker and announced by the former government in the lead up to the March 2023 NSW State election, but no funding was paid prior to the election.
Following the change of government, the funding decisions for the community projects competitive round and local government projects round were confirmed and negotiation of funding deeds commenced. The current government reviewed the decisions for the NSW government projects round and made changes to multiple decisions as part of the 2023–24 NSW Budget process. The current government has also changed the name of the program to the Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants Program.
The objective of the audit was to assess the integrity of the design and administration of the WestInvest program. This included assessing the processes used in the design and implementation of the program and award of funding.
The audit did not re-assess the merits of individual projects that were submitted for funding consideration and did not examine the implementation of projects that were allocated funding.
Decisions about the objectives and focus areas for the program were made without advice or analysis from the agencies that administered the program
The WestInvest program involved the commitment of $5 billion as a stimulus measure linked to economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there was no business case or other economic analysis conducted to support consideration of the potential benefits and costs of the program. Media releases and the public guidelines for WestInvest stated that western Sydney was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic more severely than other parts of Sydney and regional NSW. These assertions were not supported by evidence or analysis.
Evidence from NSW Treasury provided for this audit indicates that it was asked to prepare the initial proposal for the WestInvest program within a very short timeframe. This limited its ability to conduct research, analysis and consultation that could have informed the development of the program. This is particularly important for the integrity of decisions involving large-scale spending. Staff from NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department advised the audit team that the areas of focus for WestInvest were decided by Ministers and their staff without advice from the audited agencies. There is no documented analysis justifying the decision to focus the program on community infrastructure, or the six ‘areas of focus’ that were selected. The Premier's Department commissioned research from Western Sydney University after the areas of focus for the program had been decided. This did not inform decisions about the program focus but aimed to provide baseline information about community infrastructure in the 15 eligible LGAs which could be used in program evaluation.
The rationale for making 15 LGAs eligible for the program was not clear
It is not clear how the government decided which LGAs would be eligible for WestInvest funding. Public communication about the program referred to the western Sydney region and commented on areas that had been ‘hit hard’ by the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific factors that were used to decide which LGAs were eligible were not explained publicly or documented.
In the 2019–20 NSW Budget papers, "western Sydney" was defined as 12 LGAs. All of these were included as eligible for the WestInvest program. The additional three LGAs that were made eligible for the WestInvest program (Burwood, Canterbury-Bankstown, and Strathfield) were not within the NSW Budget papers definition but were designated "areas of concern" during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant they were subject to more restrictions than other LGAs at certain points.
Georges River and Bayside LGAs both made public statements that drew attention to the fact that they were not made eligible for the WestInvest program despite being designated areas of concern. Several of the 15 LGAs that were made eligible for WestInvest had not been designated areas of concern during the pandemic, including Penrith, The Hills, and Blue Mountains.
There was no consultation with eligible councils or other key stakeholders before the program design was decide
The program design had not been subject to consultation with councils or other relevant organisations in western Sydney. This meant that the views of eligible councils and community organisations on strategic priorities in their respective communities were not considered before decisions on program design were made.
Staff from some councils interviewed by the audit team indicated that while funding for community infrastructure is welcome, some councils had other priority areas for infrastructure development that were at least as high as new community infrastructure. As independent entities, each council has its own strategic planning processes to identify and plan for infrastructure projects and other areas of need. These were not considered in the design of the WestInvest program.
Staff at several councils we spoke to highlighted delivery risks to the projects for which they had been allocated funding. These included:
- the short timetable set by the then government (considering the amount of funding available and the requirements for applications) meant that full project development and assurance processes were not completed for most applications when they were submitted
- difficulty complying with the government’s administrative and assurance requirements for funding recipients, such as detailed planning and reporting.
When early planning for WestInvest was being done, both NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department identified the risk that applicants may not be able to deliver funded projects on time or within budget. The absence of consultation, research and analysis before the program design was finalised meant that these factors were not considered before the government had committed to the program. We did not see evidence that the then government had considered the cumulative impact of an additional $5 billion in infrastructure projects on the costs of materials and skilled labour concentrated in the eligible LGAs.
The Premier's Department conducted an online survey (WestInvest 'Have Your Say'), between 23 February 2022 and 31 March 2022. This was open to the public and asked questions about which of the six ‘areas of focus’ were most important to them and what type of community infrastructure projects they would like to see. This found higher levels of community support for two of the six areas (community infrastructure and green and open space).
On 18 April 2022, the Premier's Department released a summary report on the findings of the WestInvest ‘Have Your Say’ Survey. The Premier's Department noted that the survey was for consultation purposes only and did not form part of the application process for the WestInvest program. The Premier's Department stated in its summary report that the survey results 'will feed into the assessment process across the WestInvest Program'.
However, the Premier's Department staff interviewed by the audit team told us that the survey results did not play any formal role in the assessment process or funding recommendations for projects. The survey did not provide data that could be used to inform assessment decisions because:
- responses could be submitted by any member of the public who accessed the survey, not just those living in the LGAs that were eligible for the program, so the data could not be taken as representative of the views of the residents of eligible LGAs
- many survey responses were ruled ineligible as they were deemed to be associated with a community campaign that related to projects outside the focus areas of WestInvest.
The government did not have sufficient regard to risks to the State's credit rating when establishing the WestInvest program
The NSW Government has a policy of maintaining a AAA credit rating for the State of New South Wales. This is codified in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012. The NSW Government did not have sufficient regard to the implications and risks of committing $5 billion of funding to the WestInvest program to its credit rating. A risk to the State's credit rating arose because the government may have been perceived to be using proceeds from major asset sales to fund new expenditure, rather than paying down State debt.
The $3 billion NSW government projects round was open to NSW government agencies and administration of the round was led by NSW Treasury. Funding allocated through this round was not subject to the NSW Grants Administration Guide. This is because the funding was awarded to NSW government agencies rather than organisations external to government, so it did not meet the definition of a grant program. Projects were submitted by NSW government agencies to NSW Treasury and were assessed against program criteria by staff from NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department. Each project received a score and advice on whether it was suitable for funding or not. The WestInvest steering committee considered these and provided advice to the then Treasurer.
NSW Treasury prepared guidelines for the $3 billion NSW government projects round, but these were not approved by the then Treasurer until after the program assessment had commenced
NSW Treasury prepared guidelines for the NSW government projects round in September 2021. These were submitted to the then Treasurer for approval in December 2021 but were not approved. This meant that the process for assessing applications for NSW government projects was not agreed between government agencies and the then Treasurer, who was the statutory decision-maker of the allocations of funding. NSW Treasury subsequently prepared an assessment plan based on the unapproved guidelines, which set out more details about the process to be used for assessing applications for the NSW government projects round. The program guidelines were not published, which meant there was no public information about the process for assessing the largest component of the WestInvest program.
In May 2022, the then Treasurer’s Office requested that NSW Treasury make changes to the unapproved guidelines so that projects that delivered 'business as usual' state government infrastructure such as schools, roads, and health infrastructure were no longer considered ineligible for the program. These revised guidelines were approved in June 2022, but were not published. The changes were not consistent with the initial purpose of the WestInvest program which was to fund ‘transformational’ community infrastructure.
The funding advice from the WestInvest steering committee was not followed by the then Treasurer and the justifications for the funding allocation decisions were not documented
One-third of the projects that were allocated funding (9 out of 27) had been assessed by the WestInvest steering committee as having low or moderate merit. These projects were allocated combined funding of $1.1 billion. Reasons that the steering committee gave for assessing these projects as not suitable for funding through the WestInvest program included the absence of completed business cases, incomplete project development, and poor alignment to the objectives and criteria for the WestInvest program as outlined in the original program guidelines.
Staff from NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department put considerable resources into preparing guidelines and assessing and providing advice on the merits and eligibility of applications against these guidelines, but in most cases the advice was not followed by the then Treasurer. There was no documentation of reasons for the departures from steering committee advice. The NSW government projects round was not subject to the NSW Grants Administration Guide, so the requirement under those guidelines for documenting reasons for departures from advice on funding decisions did not apply. However, when the WestInvest program was established, it was noted that any departures from the funding advice from the steering committee would be documented by the then Treasurer. This applied to the entire WestInvest program. None of the projects that were allocated funding through the NSW government projects round were actually given funding, as only allocations of funding were approved by the then Treasurer.
Most of the funding was allocated to projects that did not align with the purpose of WestInvest or meet the assurance requirements of the program
Of the 27 projects that were allocated funding (Exhibit 3), 12 were from the Department of Education and seven from Transport for NSW. This resulted in over $2 billion, or 69% of the funding available through the NSW government projects round, being allocated to state school and road projects. Most of these projects were not aligned with any of the six focus areas of the WestInvest program. In addition, these projects were examples of ‘business as usual’ activities of NSW government agencies that did not clearly align with the initial purpose of the program to deliver transformational community infrastructure that would improve liveability in the 15 eligible LGAs.
State schools
State roads
Health
Open spaces
Arts and community infrastructure
|
Source: NSW Treasury documents.
Conditions were attached to the approval of funding allocations for 21 of the 27 projects. Most of these conditions related to the completion of a business case and other project assurance requirements, which were required under the program guidelines.
Projects approved through the WestInvest program were to receive funding from the Community Services and Facilities Fund (CSFF), which is a legislative fund created under the NSW Generations Funds Act 2018 (the Act). The Act states that the purpose of the CSFF is to provide funding for ‘cost-effective facilities and services’ (s.12(1)). The absence of business cases and other assurance requirements from most of the projects approved created the risk of legislative non-compliance, as many of the projects that had been allocated funding could not clearly demonstrate that they would be cost-effective.
NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department’s assessment of the first group of projects submitted for the NSW government projects round indicated that agencies applying for funding did not understand the purpose or requirements of the program. NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department received 153 applications after the first call for proposals. Most did not align with the stated purpose of WestInvest or meet the assurance requirements that had been set for the program. For example:
- 90 project proposals (59% of those submitted) were assessed as ineligible. Thirty-five of the 90 did not include any infrastructure, which was the main purpose of the WestInvest program. The other 55 proposed infrastructure projects were not consistent with any of six areas of focus for the program.
- 118 proposals (77% of proposals submitted) did not have a business case, which was a requirement of the WestInvest program guidelines.
As the first request for project proposals did not generate enough suitable applications, the then Treasurer made a second request to NSW government agencies in August 2022 seeking additional project proposals. This occurred after the guidelines for the NSW government projects round had been broadened to allow more projects to be considered for funding (discussed above).
Multiple state school projects were allocated funding after being assessed by the WestInvest steering committee as ineligible or unsuitable for funding
The Westmead Education Campus project, valued at $308 million, was rated as ineligible by NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department because it did not address any of the six specified focus areas for the WestInvest program. This meant it did not go through a full assessment against the program criteria and was not submitted to the then Treasurer for funding consideration.
The project was later re-submitted and the then Treasurer subsequently approved it for funding allocation. This occurred after the guidelines for the NSW government projects round had been broadened (discussed above). NSW Treasury's advice on this submission noted that the project had not been fully developed, with key decisions about the delivery model not made, and it did not have a final business case.
The Box Hill (Terry Road) new school project, valued at $112 million was rated as ‘moderate – not suitable for funding consideration at this time’ by the WestInvest steering committee. It was subsequently approved for funding by the then Treasurer.
Nine school upgrade projects with a total value of $478 million were allocated funding by the then Treasurer. Each of these had been assessed as ineligible by NSW Treasury and the Premier's Department against the original program guidelines because they did not meet any of the WestInvest focus areas and were not considered 'transformational'. There were a further 14 similar proposals for school upgrades that were also assessed as ineligible but were not allocated funding.
Funding allocations from the WestInvest program were changed after the 2023 NSW State election
Following the change of government at the 2023 NSW state election, most of the funding decisions announced by the former government were changed. The new government had announced during the election campaign that, if elected, it would redirect some WestInvest funding 'to rebuild Western Sydney schools and Western Sydney hospitals'. Eleven of the 27 projects that had been announced by the former government were not funded by the new government. The combined value of these projects was at around $1.5 billion (Exhibit 4). The seven roads projects that had been allocated funding through WestInvest, valued at $1 billion, were also removed from the WestInvest funding allocation but these still received funding from a different source.
State schools
Health
Open spaces
Arts and community infrastructure
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Source: NSW Treasury documents.
The funding was reallocated to 17 projects that the new government had announced as election commitments during the 2023 State election campaign. This comprised ten school infrastructure projects, five health infrastructure projects, and two transport infrastructure projects. All of these projects had a cost of more than $10 million each, which means they are subject to NSW Government business case and gateway assurance requirements. Business cases had been completed for the two transport projects. The other 15 projects did not have business cases.
State schools
Health
Transport
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Source: NSW Treasury documents.
After these changes, the $3 billion NSW government projects round funding distribution was:
- Nine school upgrades, valued at $478 million, that had been allocated funding by the former government (see Exhibit 3).
- 17 new projects, with a total value of around $2.3 billion, that had been announced as election commitments by the new government (Exhibit 5). All of these are state school, health, or transport infrastructure.
- Three projects that covered administrative costs associated with the WestInvest program, with a total value of around $230 million (not previously announced).
The $1.6 billion community project grants - competitive round was open to local councils, NGOs, Local Aboriginal Land Councils, and educational institutions, across 15 eligible LGAs in western Sydney. Exhibit 6 shows a timeline of key dates for the community project grants - competitive round.
The $400 million local government projects round was administered as a non-competitive grant round that was only open to the 15 eligible councils. Each council was allocated a portion of the $400 million funding via a formula that provided a base allocation and an additional amount based on the population of each LGA. Each council received between $21 million and $35 million.
Applications for funding were submitted to the Premier's Department for assessment. Proposed projects were required to be eligible for the program and be rated as having merit against the published program criteria, which were the same as those for the competitive round. Exhibit 12 shows a timeline of key dates for the Local government projects competitive round.
Appendix one – Responses from audited agencies
Appendix two – About the audit
Appendix three – Performance auditing
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Parliamentary reference - Report number #391 - released 28 February 2024.
Actions for Flood housing response
Flood housing response
What this report is about
Extreme rainfall across eastern Australia in 2021 and 2022 led to a series of major flood events in New South Wales.
This audit assessed how effectively the NSW Government provided emergency accommodation and temporary housing in response to the early 2022 Northern Rivers and late 2022 Central West flood events.
Responsible agencies included in this audit were the Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Reconstruction Authority, the former Department of Planning and Environment, the Department of Regional NSW and the Premier’s Department.
Findings
The Department of Communities and Justice rapidly provided emergency accommodation to displaced persons immediately following these flood events.
There was no plan in place to guide a temporary housing response and agencies did not have agency-level plans for implementing their responsibilities.
The NSW Government rapidly procured and constructed temporary housing villages. However, the amount of temporary housing provided did not meet the demand.
There is an extensive waitlist for temporary housing and the remaining demand in the Northern Rivers is unlikely to be met. The NSW Reconstruction Authority has not reviewed this list to confirm its accuracy.
Demobilisation plans for the temporary housing villages have been developed, but there are no long-term plans in place for the transition of tenants out of the temporary housing.
Agencies are in the process of evaluating the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing.
The findings from the 2022 State-wide lessons process largely relate to response activities.
Audit recommendations
The NSW Reconstruction Authority should:
- Develop a plan for the provision of temporary housing.
- Review the temporary housing waitlist.
- Determine a timeline for demobilising the temporary housing villages.
- Develop a strategy to manage the transition of people into long-term accommodation.
- Develop a process for state-wide recovery lessons learned.
All audited agencies should:
- Finalise evaluations of their role in the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing.
- Develop internal plans for implementing their roles under state-wide plans.
Extreme rainfall across eastern Australia in 2021 and 2022 led to a series of major flood events in New South Wales. In response, the NSW Government declared each of these events a natural disaster and made available a wide range of support for affected individuals and businesses. The flooding experienced by the State was widespread and its severity caused significant destruction in communities across the State. Some of the most significant damage occurred in the Northern Rivers and Central West regions of New South Wales.
Whilst areas of the Northern Rivers are prone to regular flooding, the scale of flooding in 2022 had not been experienced in the region before. On 28 February 2022, the Wilsons River in Lismore reached a height of 14.4 metres, approximately 2.3 metres higher than the previous record. A second flood occurred on 30 March 2022, with the river reaching 11.4 metres. The flooding in the region was extensive, affecting towns including Lismore, Coraki, Woodburn and Ballina. Between late February and early April 2022, 13 lives were lost in the Northern Rivers floods. In addition, 4,055 properties were deemed uninhabitable, and a further 10,849 properties were assessed as damaged. Approximately 4,000 people had to be evacuated from Lismore alone during this period, with thousands displaced from their homes across the region.
In the Central West, on 14 November 2022, the Lachlan River at Forbes peaked at 10.6 metres and was categorised as major flooding due to the inundation of extensive rural areas with properties, villages and towns isolated. On the same day in Eugowra, the Mandagery Creek peaked at 9.8 metres, passing the previous record of 9.6 metres in 1950. Flooding occurred in other areas of the Central West including Parkes, Molong, Cowra and Canowindra. Two lives were lost in the town of Eugowra with 80% of homes and businesses in the town damaged.
This audit assessed the following two areas of NSW Government support provided in response to these flood events:
- Provision of emergency accommodation: short-term accommodation provided to displaced persons unable to return to their own home in an emergency situation.
- Provision of temporary housing provided in the form of temporary pods and caravans.
The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) is responsible for the provision of emergency accommodation and other welfare services in response to a disaster event. With regards to temporary housing, the following agencies were involved in this audit:
- Resilience NSW was the lead agency responsible for recovery and led the implementation of the temporary housing program under the oversight of the Chair, Housing Taskforce (HTF) from July 2022. On 16 December 2022, Resilience NSW was abolished, with some staff transferred to the NSW Police Force, Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and DCJ. The remaining staff were transitioned to the newly established NSW Reconstruction Authority.
- The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) chaired the HTF until July 2022 and led the process for the identification and evaluation of temporary housing village sites. On 1 January 2024, DPE was abolished and the DPE functions discussed in this report now form part of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
- NSW Public Works (NSWPW), a branch of the Department of Regional NSW (DRNSW) procured and managed the construction of the pods used in this program, and procured the caravans used as part of the temporary housing response.
The then DPC (now Premier’s Department (PD)) was responsible for whole-of-government policy advice, convening the Crisis Policy Committee of Cabinet, and whole-of-government communications.
This audit assessed how effectively the NSW Government provided emergency and temporary housing in response to the early 2022 Northern Rivers and late 2022 Central West flood events. We addressed this objective by examining whether the audited agencies:
- effectively planned for the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing prior to the flood events
- provided emergency accommodation and temporary housing to meet the needs of affected communities in response to the flood events
- are effectively capturing lessons learned in relation to their provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing as part of the flood response.
There is a State-level plan in place to guide the approach to emergency accommodation
The Welfare Services Functional Area Supporting Plan (WSFASP, the plan) is a supporting plan to the New South Wales Emergency Management Plan (EMPLAN). The plan outlines the responsibilities of the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) for the coordination and delivery of disaster welfare services in New South Wales. This includes the provision of emergency accommodation services. The plan in place during the flood events outlined the responsibilities of DCJ and the former Office of Emergency Management (OEM), some responsibilities of which have since transitioned to the NSW Reconstruction Authority (the Reconstruction Authority). The plan sets out a framework for government and non-government organisations to coordinate to provide key welfare services during an emergency, and outlines agreed roles and responsibilities. The plan outlines preparedness measures and arrangements for the provision of key welfare services during the response to and recovery from emergencies in New South Wales.
The plan details the organisations and key positions involved in welfare services, including their overall roles and responsibilities, and a basic structure for the delivery of disaster welfare services. For example, the plan states that both the former Department of Families and Communities Services and the not-for-profit Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) are responsible for emergency accommodation but does not clarify the detailed responsibilities associated with this role. These provide a State-wide, though not detailed, approach to emergency accommodation and welfare services in a disaster recovery context.
There was no plan in place to guide the temporary housing response, despite the NSW Government utilising this type of response in a previous emergency event
The State-level emergency planning documents do not contemplate the need for temporary housing as a government disaster response. Although there was a temporary housing response to the Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20, albeit on a smaller scale, no specific plans were in place to guide this response or the flood events in 2021–22. The NSW Government therefore had to develop its approach to addressing demand for temporary housing whilst responding to the flood emergency as it was occurring.
A partnership was established between the NSW Government and the Minderoo Foundation in 2020 to provide 100 pods to people whose homes were destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires. The initial rollout consisted of four-person pods, however the need for greater capacity was identified, with larger, family-sized pods developed for up to six people. The implementation of this program did not include formalising the work completed in documented plans for future use in response to other emergency events.
A plan that sets out how temporary housing should be used is in place in Queensland. The Queensland Government released a Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA) plan in 2021 which describes the arrangements, roles and responsibilities of key organisations critical to supporting displaced community members after the closure of an evacuation centre. The TEA plan outlines the five phases in the provision of accommodation support which includes temporary housing recovery. This demonstrates that a plan for the use of temporary accommodation would not be unprecedented.
Without plans in place to respond to all aspects of an emergency, decision makers are forced to be reactive in their decision making or to develop these plans while also responding to the events. In this specific instance, the government was forced to develop governance structures and perform tasks such as options analysis and site selection for temporary housing during the immediate aftermath of the flood events.
The Reconstruction Authority has acknowledged the need for a formalised plan for temporary housing responses and has started work to develop this in preparation for future flood events. It advised that the Housing Taskforce (HTF) has begun this work by performing assessments and reviews of high-risk areas and engaging with local councils and community groups. The Reconstruction Authority is also developing a Recovery Readiness Checklist, which will include preparedness for the provision of temporary housing in an emergency. Pre-event recovery planning specific to Local Government Areas (LGAs) is also underway, with the Reconstruction Authority developing tailored checklists which cover the provision of temporary housing. These tools will form part of the State's recovery response under the NSW Recovery Plan, which the Reconstruction Authority is currently in the process of updating. The Reconstruction Authority advises that this update will include identifying responsibilities in relation to the temporary housing response and recovery more broadly.
The WSFASP in place during the flood events had not been reviewed and updated in line with its planning requirements
Plans which outline the coordination and delivery of services in response to an emergency are imperative to ensure all required activities are completed, and the needs of affected communities are met. Plans also serve as a common reference point for decision making. Out of date plans can result in unclear roles and responsibilities, requiring agencies to make improvised decisions due to the urgent nature of emergency response. This creates a risk of key activities not being fulfilled and community needs going unmet.
The WSFASP in place during the flood response was last updated and endorsed by the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) in June 2018. As part of the planning requirements outlined in the plan, the State Welfare Services Functional Area Coordinator (WelFAC) is required to ensure the plan is reviewed every five years, or when relevant aspects require review following emergency operations or changes to legislation. The State WelFAC is an officer from DCJ responsible for the monitoring, support and coordination of disaster welfare services in New South Wales.
In 2020, a machinery of government change was implemented which established Resilience NSW as a public service executive agency and transferred persons employed in OEM to Resilience NSW. Despite these legislative changes, the plan had not been updated in line with its requirements to reflect these and subsequent changes, as OEM was still listed as one of the two agencies responsible for the coordination and delivery of disaster welfare services. Similarly, the plan had not been updated to reflect emergency operations changes with ADRA listed as the responsible coordinator for the provision of emergency accommodation services, despite no longer being responsible for this service.
The WSFASP has since been updated to reflect these changes and was endorsed by the SEMC in September 2023. The current WSFASP aligns with the welfare services responsibilities following the transfer of the welfare services functional area to DCJ in 2023. This includes the role of DCJ as the lead agency for the WSFASP, and DCJ and the Housing Contact Centre (HCC) within DCJ as the coordinator of emergency accommodation. The updated plan also provides an outline of the key welfare services that are delivered by the functional area, including emergency accommodation, personal support, essential food and grocery items, and transition from emergency accommodation. The outline provides a description of each service and the agency, team or non-government organisation responsible for coordinating the service.
Agencies did not have agency-level plans in place for implementing their responsibilities under State-level emergency accommodation and temporary housing plans
The State EMPLAN establishes a framework for sub plans, supporting plans and related policy instruments and guidelines. It states that a supporting plan should describe the support which is to be provided to the controlling or coordinating authority during emergency operations and be an action plan which describes how an agency or functional area is to be coordinated in order to fulfill the roles and responsibilities allocated. Without this more detailed guidance being in place, there is no common reference point for individuals within an agency to refer to when implementing the broader State-level plans, such as the WSFASP.
The WSFASP defines emergency accommodation and outlines the government and non-government organisations responsible for its provision. It does not provide a detailed description of the specific roles and responsibilities related to its provision. DCJ does not have an agency-level plan in place that specifies these in more detail, and did not have any standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place to guide the process of housing displaced persons in emergency accommodation.
The absence of SOPs to guide this process can increase the chance of inconsistent implementation of the WSFASP, with a reliance on the experience of staff to complete tasks to house people in emergency accommodation. For example, at the onset of an emergency, staff in the HCC contact local accommodation venues such as hotels and motels to determine availability in the area. They may also book blocks of rooms in preparation for housing displaced persons. At the time of the flood events, there was no documentation which detailed the process for DCJ staff to follow and these tasks were not recorded anywhere as requiring completion before a disaster occurred.
DCJ has advised that they have since developed internal processes which form part of the training program for Disaster Welfare staff. In addition to this, the HCC has developed a guide which steps out the various processes relating to the provision of emergency accommodation, as well as outlining the different roles and responsibilities within the HCC in relation to these processes.
As noted, there is no State-level plan in place to guide the temporary housing response. As a result, there is no framework to guide this process at an agency level for the Reconstruction Authority. The absence of both State and agency-level plans guiding the provision of temporary housing at the time of the flood events meant that agencies were required to develop a process to follow at the same time as responding to the flood events.
Appropriate governance structures were established quickly and changed as needed to reflect recovery needs
The State Recovery Committee (SRC) was activated following the 2019–20 bushfires and was still operating at the time of the 2022 floods. As part of this, the SRC had a terms of reference which included responsibilities of the SRC and a membership list. The responsibilities of the SRC in the terms of reference are to:
- provide strategic direction in relation to disaster recovery
- oversee reconstruction and recovery efforts in disaster impacted areas
- provide senior leadership to facilitate whole-of-government coordination
- monitor and report to the Premier, Deputy Premier and Cabinet on the progress of recovery efforts in disaster impacted areas.
Once the flood events commenced on 28 February 2022, the SRC increased its meeting frequency to every two days initially, for a total of 13 meetings in March. The SRC continued to meet at least twice a week from mid-April until the end of May, at which point it reduced gradually in frequency to weekly and then fortnightly. The SRC continued to meet throughout all of 2022 and 2023.
The SRC established a range of subcommittees to assist with recovery efforts. These subcommittees were operational from March 2022 onwards. Subcommittees had terms of reference setting out their role and were chaired by appropriate agencies with operational responsibilities that aligned with those roles. The Health and Wellbeing subcommittee was established as part of this and initially had responsibility for the provision of both emergency accommodation and temporary housing. This subcommittee was chaired by a relevant Senior Executive in DCJ.
As noted above, none of the whole-of-government plans prior to the flood events allocated responsibility to an agency or subcommittee for constructing and managing temporary housing. Although temporary housing had been utilised by the government previously in response to the 2019–20 bushfires, its provision had never been implemented on the scale required in response to the flood events.
In early March, the SRC created a new subcommittee: the Housing Taskforce (HTF). The HTF contained key staff from a wide variety of agencies, as well as other key stakeholders like local councils where appropriate, and was chaired by a Senior Executive from the Planning Branch of the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE). A terms of reference was quickly developed for the subcommittee. The HTF’s initial purpose included developing a strategy for identifying locations and pathways for temporary housing. This allowed the Health and Wellbeing subcommittee and the HTF to provide more focus on their particular areas of responsibility.
The SRC helped to manage issues but did not provide strategic risk management
Subcommittees regularly reported to the SRC throughout the flood response period. The SRC was able to manage issues with these programs as they arose, often by connecting relevant staff and providing a forum for these issues to be resolved across agencies. In this way, the SRC was able to manage issues, which aligns with its role in facilitating whole-of-government coordination.
Given that all relevant agencies were represented on the SRC, it was uniquely placed to provide strategic risk management across all aspects of the recovery effort including provision of accommodation and housing following the floods. This would fall within the SRC’s role of providing strategic direction in relation to disaster recovery. Strategic risk management involves addressing external risks, including those which may impact the government’s ability to achieve its objectives. The SRC did not undertake strategic risk management to proactively identify issues that could hinder the recovery effort, such as through developing risk registers and assigning mitigation strategies to agencies or specific individuals.
In regards to the flood temporary housing response, this may have included identifying and mitigating risks that could impact on the quantity of housing provided, risks to the overall flood recovery budget, and risks related to further flood events occurring that might hinder flood recovery. While the SRC did not consider this work during the flood response, Resilience NSW and the Reconstruction Authority both documented some whole-of-government risks to the delivery of the response to natural disasters as part of their enterprise risk management processes, including throughout 2022. However, this work was not undertaken specifically in relation to the unfolding flood events, but was instead done as part of the agency's regular review of its enterprise risks. Given that only one agency was involved in this risk identification, it was not a substitute for whole-of-government risk identification through the SRC.
The HTF did undertake some separate risk identification for the temporary housing response in the Northern Rivers, but not until October 2022. The HTF had been in operation since March 2022 without undertaking formal risk assessments to determine key risks to the provision of temporary housing that required mitigation. Some of the risks identified included expenditure on temporary housing exceeding its allocated budget, temporary housing sites failing to deliver agreed outcomes, and that there would be inappropriate or ineffective engagement with Aboriginal communities. This risk identification from the HTF was also reflected in Resilience NSW's and the Reconstruction Authority’s enterprise risk registers, where it is identified that there is a risk that the agencies do not effectively deliver on short and medium term housing.
The SRC provided oversight of the work of subcommittees
As noted above, one of the roles of the SRC is to oversee reconstruction and recovery efforts in disaster impacted areas. To fulfil this role of providing oversight, the SRC received updates on the activities of each subcommittee at each meeting.
In March 2022, each subcommittee developed a 100-Day Flood Action Plan that set out actions that would be completed in the first 30, 60 and 100 days. Each subcommittee was required to update its Flood Action Plan and report progress on implementation to the SRC every two weeks. The SRC received this regular reporting from each subcommittee, which included the status of each item, actions undertaken to date, and the next steps that each subcommittee was undertaking. This served to provide the SRC with oversight of the actions of each group to supplement the subcommittee updates with greater detail.
The quality of reporting from the HTF to the SRC reduced throughout August and September 2022. At this time the updates from the subcommittee included either only a verbal update or only statistical updates on the temporary housing response. This means that throughout this period, the SRC was providing only limited oversight of the temporary housing response. From October 2022, the HTF provided more detailed updates to the SRC, providing data on the temporary housing villages including the number of dwellings, estimated capacity and the status of each of the village sites (whether operational or estimated date of construction completion).
DCJ adapted its usual procedures to house a large number of people in emergency accommodation following the Northern Rivers flood event
The HCC, a branch within DCJ, is responsible for arranging emergency accommodation during a disaster, although this responsibility was not outlined in a specific emergency accommodation plan or procedure at the time of the flood events. Once a disaster is declared, the HCC is activated for a disaster welfare response. The team is required to estimate the number of people who will be displaced by the disaster and may seek emergency accommodation. The team is also required to contact local accommodation providers such as hotels, motels and caravan parks to determine vacancy information, as well as obtain information about the facilities such as wheelchair accessibility and pet-friendly rooms. The HCC team will then make direct contact with staff at evacuation centres and facilitate bookings based on the demand. A central internal database is utilised by the HCC, which enables them to see providers and book within the system.
In following these procedures, DCJ housed 788 people in the two weeks following the initial flood event by utilising the standard local accommodation providers. On 27 April 2022, 1,440 people were reported as staying at local accommodation providers as part of the emergency accommodation response. Exhibit 5 shows the number of people housed in emergency accommodation across the North Coast from March 2022 to early April 2023.
Governance structures continued to operate as previously established in response to the Central West flood event
The governance structures established in response to the 2019–20 bushfires and the flood event in the Northern Rivers mostly operated in the same capacity for the management of the Central West flood event. In October 2022, the meeting frequency for the SRC reduced to fortnightly, following the same structure with subcommittee updates discussed as part of the agenda. There was no increase in meeting frequency during or in the immediate aftermath of the response to the Central West flood event.
Resilience NSW continued to document whole-of-government risks to the delivery of the response to natural disasters during the response to the Central West flood event, and this work was continued by the Reconstruction Authority once established. Resilience NSW also continued to develop risk dashboard heatmaps each quarter, monitoring any changes in the residual risk rating of these risks, as well as outlining issues identified, and any new and emerging risks.
DCJ housed displaced persons in the Central West quickly, considering additional needs during the process
DCJ, through the HCC, advised that it followed its standard process outlined above for the provision of emergency accommodation during the Central West flood event. The evacuation order for Eugowra was made on 15 November 2022, and by 8 December 2022, DCJ had housed 93 people from the community in emergency accommodation. The HCC was able to utilise alternative accommodation such as rooms at Charles Sturt University to meet the increasing demand for emergency accommodation in the Central West.
Through the initial consultation process conducted with displaced persons at evacuation centres, the HCC was also able to consider their additional needs and meet these where possible. For example, companion animals were supported by Local Land Services and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals through the provision of boarding services. DCJ advised that local needs were also considered as part of the intake process. For example, displaced persons were accommodated as close to their hometown as possible. Those evacuated from Forbes were given priority for emergency accommodation in Forbes. This did impact evacuees from other towns. Ordinarily, those displaced in Eugowra would also be housed in Forbes, but due to limited accommodation options, they were evacuated to Orange instead. Other considerations made for displaced persons included level access and accessible rooms for those with disabilities, and baby care items, such as cots, where required.
The At-home Caravans program was implemented as immediate shelter for displaced persons awaiting pods on their property in the Central West
By 28 November 2022, Resilience NSW made the decision to activate the At-home Caravans program in the Central West, with applications from displaced persons being taken within a week after the flood event in Eugowra. Caravans were temporarily set up on private properties in Eugowra. Displaced persons are able to live in these caravans while waiting for a pod to be installed on their property. By 10 January 2023, 102 caravans had been delivered to the Central West and started to be located on private properties. At 30 May 2023, Resilience NSW had delivered 124 out of the 129 required caravans to properties. A plan was implemented to provide immediate shelter in the community through the caravans, organise medium-term housing in the form of pods, and support displaced persons to repair or rebuild their homes. Caravans were provided to households where properties required demolition, those that were damaged but reparable, and rental properties with owner’s consent.
Other options for immediate shelter were considered but not progressed. Placing caravans on site at showgrounds or caravan parks was considered, however a NSWPW assessment found that 95% of impacted homes could accommodate caravans on property. Caravans on property require less ongoing case management, site works and utilities. Private farm house rental accommodation was also considered, however extremely low availability of these in the area resulted in the decision to not progress this option.
Resilience NSW was able to meet the demand for housing in the Central West by placing temporary housing on people’s property
Resilience NSW conducted early analysis of potential temporary housing village sites in the aftermath of the floods in the Central West. However, after reviewing the situation in Eugowra and the relatively larger blocks, it was decided a more appropriate solution would be to place temporary pods on private property. Part of this decision was the impact a centralised village located in Eugowra would have on displaced persons from other affected towns. At 30 May 2023, 59 out of 100 pods had been installed on private properties. These pods replaced caravans initially installed on private properties, although at the time of the audit some disaster-affected persons were still living in caravans while they wait for pod installation on their property.
Resilience NSW was able to utilise the excess pods from the Northern Rivers to reduce the wait time for displaced persons to move into the pod from the caravan located on their property. Once their eligibility had been confirmed, the resident met with NSWPW and the builders contracted to install the pods. The resident confirmed where they would like the pod placed and the size needed. Applicants were then prioritised by Resilience NSW and pods installed in order of this prioritisation. NSWPW engaged the same third-party contractor used in the Northern Rivers construction to expedite the installation process.
Resilience NSW used measures to adapt the pods for suitable use in the Central West, as well as configuring them to meet mobility needs of residents. Cabonne Shire and Forbes Shire Councils required pods to be built at a height of 1.5 metres. The pods were therefore installed on scaffolding to raise their height. As the pods were designed and constructed for the Northern Rivers climate, insulation was installed on the base of the pods to ensure the inside temperature was appropriate for residents in the Central West. The raised height of the pods also impacted their accessibility, so the contractor was also engaged to install ramps instead of stairs where needed.
The first demobilisation of a pod occurred on 7 August 2023, after the resident’s home had been repaired and it was suitable for them to move back home. The Reconstruction Authority advised that as pods continue to be demobilised, they will be cleaned, any required repairs completed, and then moved onto the next property as needed. There was no long-term plan initially developed for the transition of tenants out of temporary housing, although the Reconstruction Authority has advised that the newly developed Temporary Housing Plan will include these considerations to inform processes at the end of the lease period. There has been consideration for returning the pods to the Northern Rivers once the work in the Central West is complete.
The Reconstruction Authority advised that due to the delays residents are facing in accessing trades and payment of insurance claims, the HTF is currently seeking the support of councils to extend the placement of pods beyond the two years that were initially planned.
There was no clear process in place to support displaced persons in emergency accommodation who were ineligible for temporary housing in the Central West
The WSFASP in place during the flood events did not outline a transition plan for displaced persons staying in emergency accommodation. Resilience NSW took over responsibility for the transition of displaced persons from emergency accommodation to temporary housing. It was not always possible to house rental tenants by placing a pod on the property they were occupying because they were unable to obtain landowner permission. It was necessary to find an alternative property to install these pods, usually on property owned by a family member. This was able to address most tenants’ issues.
It was unclear which agency was responsible for the support of renting households in the medium to long-term. The lack of a documented process for the provision of emergency accommodation created a gap in relation to the support for displaced persons. The WSFASP has since been updated to include provision for coordinated case management support to assist people in emergency accommodation with longer-term housing needs.
DCJ maintained a list of displaced persons who had been staying in emergency accommodation and were unable to exit without assistance. This list was provided to Resilience NSW weekly. Resilience NSW provided updates to DCJ on the status of those who were being transitioned into temporary housing, but no assistance was provided by Resilience NSW to those who were ineligible for temporary housing. DCJ was therefore required to provide case management to these people to assist in their transition to more stable housing.
Agencies learned and applied lessons from the Northern Rivers floods to the Central West flood event, but most have not formalised these for future consideration
Agencies involved in the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing learned key lessons from the Northern Rivers floods that could be applied in the Central West response. These lessons included the Reconstruction Authority rapidly standing up the At-home Caravans Program to provide immediate accommodation to displaced persons, and instigating a community reference group to provide feedback on the proposed housing response plan. These lessons learned were largely undocumented, with many staff being involved across both the Northern Rivers and Central West flood response, and able to directly apply lessons learned from their experience in the earlier response. It is good practice to formalise lessons learned to ensure that future responses may have access to contemporary information to learn from both positive and negative experiences in previous situations.
DCJ and Premier’s Department (PD) have not yet documented any lessons learned from their roles in the flood events. Some lessons were documented by Resilience NSW in April 2022 as part of a process to identify emerging insights. These lessons covered a broad range of activities, including findings relevant to the provision of temporary housing.
In June 2023, the Reconstruction Authority formally documented its own lessons learned from the provision of temporary housing. This includes identifying actions to avoid repeating some of the negative experiences, such as Aboriginal communities not being consulted at the appropriate time, and not having adequate program design processes in place for the temporary housing program. In addition, NSWPW has commissioned an evaluation of its work in the construction and provision of temporary housing, which includes a formal lessons learned component.
External reviews have also been conducted and have captured interim lessons learned, including the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry and the ‘Response to major flooding across New South Wales in 2022’ Parliamentary Inquiry.
Agencies are in the process of evaluating the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing
Agencies have commenced the process of evaluating their role in the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing. DCJ advised that an external evaluation would commence shortly and that it was in the process of engaging a consultancy firm to conduct this. NSWPW has also commenced an external review of its provision of temporary housing. DPE and PD have not commenced a review, although PD has established a new unit for strategic communications during disasters in response to the agency's involvement in crisis communications during the flood events. This unit has been developed to deliver overarching whole-of-government messaging during disaster events.
Similarly, the Reconstruction Authority advised that an evaluation was planned for the provision of temporary housing. In addition, Resilience NSW commissioned an evaluation of the use of the Minderoo Foundation pods in response to the 2019–20 bushfires. This review reported in November 2022, though it had limited consideration of the role of the Minderoo Foundation pods as a source of temporary housing in the Northern Rivers. This report made 19 recommendations to the Reconstruction Authority and the Minderoo Foundation, and found that the Minderoo pods had largely been delivered in line with the original intended objectives.
There is no State-wide process in place to capture lessons learned from all agencies involved in recovery
Each year, the SEMC conducts a State-wide lessons learned exercise, incorporating learnings from all of the emergency events in the previous year. This exercise has commenced for the 2022 emergency events, however at the time of the audit it was in draft and not yet formally endorsed by the SEMC.
The agencies involved in the State lessons learned process are agencies with emergency response responsibilities. The findings largely relate to these response activities, with very few lessons learned relating to recovery. Only a limited number of agencies are involved in this activity, and the 2022 review did not incorporate the views of a number of agencies that were involved in the recovery phase of the Northern Rivers and Central West flood events.
While it is important that lessons are learned from the response phase of an emergency, it is equally important that State-wide lessons are learned from the recovery phase to ensure that appropriate State-wide changes can be made, or positive experiences can be continued. There is currently no process in place to capture these lessons learned from the recovery phase from all agencies involved in the recovery phase.
Appendix one – Responses from entities
Appendix two – About the audit
Appendix three – Performance auditing
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Parliamentary reference - Report number #389 - released 22 February 2024
Actions for Members' additional entitlements 2023
Members' additional entitlements 2023
What this report is about
This report assesses compliance of claims made by members of the NSW Parliament during the 2022–23 financial year with certain requirements outlined in the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal’s Determination (the determination).
What we found
The audit selected a sample of members’ claims. The audit does not test every claim made by members. The audit identified 33 departures from the determination. In addition, we identified seven instances where members did not submit their annual loyalty scheme declarations by the date specified in the Department of Parliamentary Services’ (the department) administrative requirements.
What we recommended
The Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal should provide greater clarity on current processes and implications of departures from the guidelines to members. The department should work with members to provide them additional training or education to better help them comply with the determination.
The department should continue to work with presiding officers, members, the clerk of the Parliaments and the clerk of the Legislative Assembly to enhance reporting of members’ expenditure.
The Auditor-General has reviewed the compliance of the members of the NSW Parliament (members) with certain requirements outlined in the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal’s Determination (the determination) for the year ended 30 June 2023.
The Auditor-General’s review analyses claims made by members during the 2022–23 financial year. We use data analytics to select a sample of members’ claims and focus on claims that our data analysis identifies as being at higher risk. We do not test every claim made by members. Our sample consisted of 70 claims submitted by 64 of 135 Members.
Results
Our audit procedures identified 33 departures from the determination. In addition, we identified seven instances where members did not submit their annual loyalty scheme declarations by the date specified in Department of Parliamentary Services’ (the department) administrative requirements.
Such departures have been consistently identified in the past years and indicate greater clarity is needed in the current processes and where training or education for members is required. These departures were as follows:
- 22 members did not submit their claims for payment within 60 days of receipt of invoice or incurring the expense (2022: 12 members’ claims)
- 4 members submitted their Sydney Allowance reconciliations after the due date (2022: six members’ reconciliations)
- 2 members had claimed for publications under the Communications Allowance but not made the required authorisations and attributions upon publication (2022: four member’s publications)
- 1 member made a claim for a Communication Allowance during the blackout period
- 4 members did not submit their annual loyalty/ incentive scheme declarations (2022: two members)
- 7 members submitted their annual loyalty/ incentive scheme declarations after the date specified in the department’s administrative requirements (2022: 16 declarations).
Background
The Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal (the tribunal) determines the salary and additional entitlements of the members, details of which are set out in the tribunal’s annual determination. The NSW Parliament, through the department, administers payments of additional entitlements to members. An overview is presented below:
Twenty-two members did not submit their claims for payment within 60 days of receipt of invoice or incurring the expense
The determination requires members to submit expense claims to the department within 60 days of receipt of invoice or incurring the expense. Our audit procedures identified 22 instances where members submitted their claims between three and 284 days late. This includes 18 members who currently sit in the Legislative Assembly or Council.
Four members submitted their Sydney Allowance reconciliations after the due date
At the start of each financial year, a member can choose to receive the Sydney Allowance as either an annual fixed amount paid monthly with their salary, or at a daily rate for each required overnight stay. Members who choose to receive an annual fixed amount must submit reconciliations twice a year to the department and return any excess of the allowance over actual expenses incurred by 30 September each year. Three members were late filing their mid-year reconciliations and one member was late filing their annual reconciliation (includes three sitting members). None of the members who filed late reconciliations needed to refund any unspent portion of their allowance to the department.
Greater clarity in current processes and training or education to members is required to address departures from the determination
There is an increase in the number of departures from the determination reported in our Auditor-General’s Report to Parliament on members’ additional entitlements since 2021–22. There is a need for greater clarity in current processes and guidance including increased training or education to help support members comply with the determination. We recommend the tribunal provides greater clarity on current processes and implications of departures from the guidelines to members. We recommend the department works with members to provide them additional training or education to better help them comply with the determination.
Open prior period recommendations
Enhanced public reporting
In 2016, the Auditor-General’s Report to Parliament recommended the tribunal consider requiring the department to regularly publish full details of members’ expenditure claims on its website in an accessible and searchable format. The tribunal had developed a plan requiring greater public reporting of members’ additional expenditure from 1 July 2019 but it does not have the power to require the department to facilitate this. This matter has been raised every year since 2016 and it continues to remain an open recommendation in 2023.
The Annual Reports of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, published on the Parliament’s website, currently list the total amount claimed during the year by each member for each allowance. However, transparency around members’ claims would be enhanced if information was more extensively and regularly published on the Parliament’s website. The department should continue to work with the presiding officers, members, the clerk of the Parliaments and the clerk of the Legislative Assembly to enhance reporting of members’ expenditure.
Appendix one – Response from Department of Parliamentary Services
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Actions for Premier and Cabinet 2023
Premier and Cabinet 2023
What this report is about
Results of the Premier and Cabinet portfolio of agencies' financial statement audits for the year ended 30 June 2023.
What we found
Unqualified audit opinions were issued for all Premier and Cabinet portfolio agencies.
What the key issues were
The Administrative Arrangements Orders, effective 1 July 2023, changed the name of the Department of Premier and Cabinet to the Premier's Department and transferred parts of Department of Premier and Cabinet to The Cabinet Office.
The number of monetary misstatements identified in our audits decreased from 15 in 2021–22 to 12 in 2022–23.
The total number of management letter findings across the portfolio of agencies increased from ten in 2021–22 to 20 in 2022–23.
Thirty per cent of all issues were repeat issues. The most common repeat issues related to deficiencies in controls over financial reporting.
What we recommended
Portfolio agencies should:
- ensure any changes to employee entitlements are assessed for their potential financial statements impact under the relevant Australian Accounting Standards
- prioritise and address internal control deficiencies identified in Audit Office management letters.
This report provides Parliament and other users of the Premier and Cabinet portfolio of agencies’ financial statements with the results of our audits, analysis, conclusions and recommendations in the following areas:
- financial reporting
- audit observations.
Financial reporting is an important element of good governance. Confidence and transparency in public sector decision-making are enhanced when financial reporting is accurate and timely.
This chapter outlines our audit observations related to the financial reporting of agencies in the Premier and Cabinet portfolio of agencies (the portfolio) for 2023.
Section highlights
- Unqualified audit opinions were issued on all the portfolio agencies 2022–23 financial statements.
- The total number of errors (including corrected and uncorrected) in the financial statements decreased compared to the prior year.
Appropriate financial controls help ensure the efficient and effective use of resources and administration of agency policies. They are essential for quality and timely decision-making.
This chapter outlines our observations and insights from our financial statement audits of agencies in the Premier and Cabinet portfolio.
Section highlights
- The 2022–23 audits identified eight moderate risk issues across the portfolio of agencies. Of these, two were repeat issues, and related to password and security configuration and management of excessive annual leave.
- The total number of findings increased from ten to 20, which mainly related to deficiencies in controls over financial reporting and governance and oversight.
- The most common repeat issues related to weaknesses in controls over financial reporting.
Appendix one – Early close procedures
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Actions for Coordination of the response to COVID-19 (June to November 2021)
Coordination of the response to COVID-19 (June to November 2021)
What the report is about
This audit assessed the effectiveness of NSW Government agencies’ coordination of the response to COVID-19, with a focus on the Delta variant outbreak in the Dubbo and Fairfield Local Government Areas (LGA) between June and November 2021. We audited five agencies - the Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Health, the NSW Police Force, Resilience NSW and the Department of Customer Service.
The audit also considered relevant planning and preparation activities that occurred prior to June 2021 to examine how emergency management and public health responses learned from previous events.
What we found
Prior to Delta, agencies developed capability to respond to COVID-19 related challenges.
However, lessons learned from prior reviews of emergency management arrangements, and from other jurisdictions, had not been implemented when Delta emerged in June 2021. As a result, agencies were not as fully prepared as they could have been to respond to the additional challenges presented by Delta.
Gaps in emergency management plans affected agencies' ability to support individuals, families and businesses impacted by restrictions to movement and gathering such as stay-at-home orders. In LGAs of concern, modest delays of a few days had a significant impact on people, especially those most vulnerable.
On 23 July 2021, the NSW Government established a cross-government coordinating approach, the Delta Microstrategy, which complemented existing emergency management arrangements, improved coordination between NSW Government agencies and led to more effective local responses.
Where possible, advice provided to government was supported by cross-government consultation, up-to-date evidence and insights. Public Health Orders were updated as the response to Delta intensified or to address unintended consequences of previous orders. The frequency of changes hampered agencies' ability to effectively communicate changes to frontline staff and the community in a rapidly evolving situation.
The NSW Government could provide greater transparency and accountability over decisions to apply Public Health Orders during a pandemic.
What we recommended
The audit made seven recommendations intended to improve transparency, accountability and preparedness for future emergency events.
This audit assessed the effectiveness of NSW Government agencies’ coordination (focused on the Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Health, the NSW Police Force, Resilience NSW and the Department of Customer Service) of the COVID-19 response in selected Local Government Areas (Fairfield City Council and Dubbo Regional Council) between June and November 2021.
As noted in this report, Resilience NSW was responsible for the coordination of welfare services as part of the emergency management arrangements. On 16 December 2022, the NSW Government abolished Resilience NSW.
During the audited period, Resilience NSW was tasked with supporting the needs of communities subject to stay-at-home orders or stricter restrictions and it provided secretariat support to the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC). The SEMC was, and remains, responsible for the coordination and oversight of emergency management policy and preparedness.
Our work for this performance audit was completed on 15 November 2022, when we issued the final report to the five audited agencies. While the audit report does not make specific recommendations to Resilience NSW, it does include five recommendations to the State Emergency Management Committee. On 8 December 2022, the then Commissioner of Resilience NSW provided a response to the final report, which we include as it is the formal response from the audited entity at the time the audit was conducted.
The community of New South Wales has experienced significant emergency events during the past three years. COVID-19 first emerged in New South Wales after bushfire and flooding emergencies in 2019–20. The pandemic is now into its third year, and there have been further extreme weather and flooding events during 2021 and 2022.
Lessons taken from the experience of these events are important to informing future responses and reducing future risks to the community from emergencies.
This audit focuses on the NSW Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular, the Delta variant (Delta) that occurred between June and November 2021. The response to the Delta represents six months of heightened challenges for the NSW Government.
Government responses to emergencies are guided by legislation. The State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989 (SERM Act) establishes emergency management arrangements in New South Wales and covers:
- coordination at state, regional and local levels through emergency management committees
- emergency management plans, supporting plans and functional areas including the State Emergency Management Plan (EMPLAN)
- operations centres and controllers at state, regional and local levels.
This audit focuses on the activities of five agencies during the audit period:
- The NSW Police Force led the emergency management response and was responsible for coordinating agencies across government in providing the tactical and operational elements that supported and enhanced the health response to the pandemic. The NSW Police Force also led the compliance response which enforced Public Health Orders and included household checks on those required to isolate at home after testing positive to COVID-19. In some parts of NSW, they were supported by the Australian Defence Force in this role.
- NSW Health was responsible for leading the health response which coordinated all parts of the health system, initially to prevent, and then to manage, the pandemic.
- Resilience NSW coordinated welfare services as part of the emergency management arrangements and provided secretariat support to the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC). The SEMC is responsible for the coordination and oversight of emergency management policy and preparedness. Resilience NSW was also tasked with supporting the needs of communities subject to stay-at-home orders or stricter restrictions.
- The Department of Customer Service (DCS) was responsible for the statewide strategic communications response.
- The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) held a key role in providing policy and legal services, as well as supporting the coordination of activity across a range of functional areas and decision-making by our State’s leaders.
This audit assessed the effectiveness of NSW Government agencies’ coordination (focused on the Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Health, the NSW Police Force, Resilience NSW and the Department of Customer Service) of the COVID-19 response in selected Local Government Areas (LGA) (Fairfield City Council and Dubbo Regional Council) after June 2021.
The audit investigated whether:
- government decisions to apply LGA-specific Public Health Orders were supported by effective crisis management governance and planning frameworks
- agencies effectively coordinated in the communication (and enforcement) of Public Health Orders.
While focusing on the coordination of NSW Government agencies’ response to the Delta variant in June through to November 2021, the audit also considered relevant planning and preparation activities that occurred prior to June 2021 to examine how emergency management and public health responses learned from previous events.
This audit does not assess the effectiveness of other specific COVID-19 responses such as business support. It refers to the preparedness, planning and delivery of these activities in the context of supporting communities in selected LGAs. NSW Health's contribution to the Australian COVID-19 vaccine rollout was also subject to a separate audit titled 'New South Wales COVID-19 vaccine rollout' tabled in NSW Parliament on 7 December 2022.
This audit is part of a series of audits which have been completed, or are in progress, regarding the New South Wales COVID-19 emergency response. The Audit Office of New South Wales '2022–2025 Annual Work Program' details the ongoing focus our audits will have on providing assurance on the effectiveness of emergency responses.
In this document Aboriginal refers to the First Nations peoples of the land and waters now called Australia, and includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Conclusion
Prior to June 2021, agencies worked effectively together to adapt and refine pre-existing emergency management arrangements to respond to COVID-19. However, lessons learned from prior reviews of emergency management arrangements, and from other jurisdictions, had not been implemented when Delta emerged in June 2021. As a result, agencies were not as fully prepared as they could have been to respond to the additional challenges presented by Delta.
In the period March 2020 to June 2021, the State's Emergency Management (EM) arrangements coordinated the New South Wales emergency response to COVID-19 with support from the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) which led the cross-government COVID-19 Taskforce. NSW Government agencies enhanced the EM arrangements, which until then had typically been activated in response to natural disasters, to meet the specific circumstances of the pandemic.
However, the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC), supported by Resilience NSW, did not address relevant recommendations arising from the 2020 Bushfires Inquiry before June 2021 and agencies did not always integrate lessons learned from other jurisdictions or scenario training exercises into emergency management plans or strategies before Delta. As a result, deficiencies in the EM arrangements, including representation of vulnerable communities on EM bodies, well-being support for multicultural communities in locked down environments and cross-agency information sharing, persisted when Delta emerged in June 2021.
It should be noted that for the purposes of this audit there is no benchmark, informed by precedent, that articulates what level of preparation would have been sufficient or proportionate. However, the steps required to address these gaps were reasonable and achievable, and the failure to do so meant that agencies were not as fully prepared as they could have been for the scale and escalation of Delta’s spread across the State.
The Delta Microstrategy complemented the EM arrangements to support greater coordination and agencies are working to improve their capability for future events
The Delta Microstrategy (the Microstrategy) led to innovations in information sharing and collaboration across the public service. Agencies involved in the response have completed, or are completing, reviews of their contribution to the response. That said, none of these reviews includes a focus on whole-of-government coordination.
On 23 July 2021, the NSW Government approved the establishment of the Microstrategy to respond to the additional challenges presented by Delta including the need to support communities most impacted by restrictions to movement and gathering in the LGAs of concern. An extensive range of government agencies were represented across eight Microstrategy workstreams, which coordinated with the existing EM arrangements to deliver targeted strategies to communities in high-risk locations and improve data and information sharing across government. This enhanced the public health, compliance, income and food support, communications and community engagement aspects of the response.
Agencies also leveraged learnings from early weeks of the Delta wave and were able to replicate those lessons in other locations. The use of pre-staging hubs in Fairfield to support food and personal hamper distribution was used a month later in Dubbo which acted as a central hub for more remote parts of the State.
Emergency management plans did not enable government to respond immediately to support vulnerable communities in high-risk LGAs or regional NSW
There are gaps in the emergency management plans relating to the support for individuals, families and businesses impacted by the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions to movement and gathering. These gaps affected agencies' ability to respond immediately when the need arose during Delta.
Emergency management plans and supporting instruments did not include provision for immediate relief for households, which meant arrangements for isolation income support and food security measures had to be designed in the early stages of Delta before it could be approved and deployed.
There were delays – sometimes only days, on occasion, weeks - in providing support to affected communities. In particular, there were delays to the provision of income support and in scaling up efforts to coordinate food and grocery hampers to households in isolation. In LGAs of concern, modest delays of a few days had a significant impact on people, especially those most vulnerable.
Although government issued stricter restrictions for workers in the Fairfield LGA on 14 July 2021, it only approved targeted income support for people in LGAs of concern on 16 August 2021.
Overall, agencies coordinated effectively to provide advice to government but there are opportunities to learn lessons to improve preparedness for future events
Agencies coordinated in providing advice to government. The advice was supported by timely public health information, although this was in the context of a pandemic, where data and information about the virus and its variants was changing regularly. However, agencies did not always consider the impact on key industries or supply chains when they provided advice to government, which meant that Public Health Orders would sometimes need to be corrected.
Public Health Orders were also updated as the response to Delta intensified or to address unintended consequences of previous orders. The frequency of changes hampered agencies' ability to effectively communicate changes to frontline staff and the community in a rapidly evolving situation.
The audit identified several occasions where there were delays, ranging from three to 21 days, between the provision of advice to government and subsequent decision-making (which we have not detailed due to the confidentiality of Cabinet deliberations). Agency officers advised of instances where they were not provided sufficient notice of changes to Public Health Orders to organise local infrastructure (such as traffic support for testing clinics) to support compliance with new requirements.
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Australia in late January 2020 as the bushfire and localised flooding emergencies were in their final stages. Between 2020 and mid-2021, agencies responded to the initial variants of COVID-19, managed a border closure with Victoria that lasted nearly four months and dealt with localised ‘flare-ups’ that required postcode-based restrictions on mobility in northern parts of Sydney and regional New South Wales. During this period, New South Wales had the opportunity to learn from events in Victoria which imposed strict restrictions on mobility across the State and the growing emergence of the Delta variant (Delta) across the Asia Pacific.
This section of the report assesses how emergency management and public health responses adapted to these lessons and determined preparedness for, and responses to, widespread community transmission of Delta in New South Wales.
The previous chapter discusses how agencies had refined the existing emergency management arrangements to suit the needs of a pandemic and describes some gaps that were not addressed. This chapter explores the first month of Delta (mid-June to mid-July 2021). It explores the areas where agencies were prepared and responses in place for the outbreak. It also discusses the impact of the gaps that were not addressed in the period prior to Delta and other issues that emerged.
NSW Health provided advice on the removal of restrictions based on up-to-date advice
The NSW Government discussed the gradual process for removing restrictions using the Doherty Institute modelling provided to National Cabinet on 10 August 2021. NSW Health highlighted the importance of maintaining a level of public health and safety measure bundles to further suppress case numbers. This was based on additional modelling from the Doherty Institute.
The Department of Regional NSW led discussion and planning around reopening with a range of proposal through August and September 2021. The Department of Premier and Cabinet and NSW Health jointly developed a paper to provide options on the restrictions when the State reached a level of 70% double dose vaccinations.
The roadmap to reopening was originally published on 9 September 2021. However, by 11 October 2021, the restrictions were relaxed when the 70% double dose threshold was reached to allow:
- up to ten fully vaccinated visitors to a home (increased from five)
- up to 30 fully vaccinated people attending outdoor gatherings (increased from 20)
- weddings and funerals limits increased to 100 people (from 50)
- the reopening of indoor pools for training, exercise and learning purposes only.
On the same day, the NSW Government announced further relaxation of restrictions once the 80% double dose threshold was reached. These restrictions were further relaxed on 8 November 2021. This included the removal of capacity restrictions to the number of visitors to a private residence, indoor pools to reopen for all purposes and density limits of one person for every two square metres, dancing allowed in nightclubs and 100% capacity in major stadia.
The NSW Government allowed workers in regional areas who received one vaccination dose to return to their workplace from 11 October 2021.
The Premier extended the date of easing of restrictions for unvaccinated people aged over 16 from 1 December to 15 December 2021.
Many agencies have undertaken reviews of their response to the Delta outbreak but a whole-of-government review has yet to be conducted
Various agencies and entities associated with the response to the Delta outbreak conducted after-action review processes. These processes assessed the achievements delivered, lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. However, a whole-of-government level review has not been conducted. This limits the New South Wales public service's ability to improve how it coordinates responses in future emergencies.
The agencies/entities that conducted reviews included:
- South West Metropolitan region, Western NSW region, Fairfield Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC), Dubbo Local Emergency Operations Controller (LEOCON), which were collated centrally by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC)
- Aboriginal Affairs NSW assessed representation and relevance of the emergency management arrangements for Aboriginal communities following the 2019 bushfires
- Resilience NSW developed case studies to capture improved practice with regard to food security and supply chains
- a community support and empowerment-focused after-action review undertaken by the Pillar 5 workstream of the Microstrategy.
Key lessons collated from the after-action reviews include:
- the impact of variation in capability across agencies on the management of key aspects of the response including welfare support and logistics
- issues with boundary differences between NSW Police Force regions, local government areas (LGA and local health districts (LHD) caused issues in delivering and coordinating services in an emergency situation
- the need to improve relationships between state and local Government outside of acute emergency responses to improve service delivery
- issues arising from impediments to information sharing between agencies and jurisdictions, such as:
- timeliness and accuracy of data used to direct compliance activities
- the impact of insufficient advance notice on changes to Public Health Orders
- timely access to data across public sector agencies and other jurisdictions to inform decision-making, analysis and communications
- gaps in data around ethnicity, geolocation of recent positive cases and infection/vaccination rates in Aboriginal communities.
- the lack of Aboriginal community representation on many LEMCs
- compared with the response to COVID-19 in 2020, improved coordination of communications with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) populations with a reduction in overlapping messages and over-communication
- improved attendance from agency representatives in LEMCs, and regional emergency operations centres (REOC) to improve interagency communications, planning, capability development and community engagement issues
- deficiencies in succession planning and fatigue management practices
- the potential for REOC Welfare/Well-being subgroups to be included as part of the wider efforts to community needs during emergencies.
NSW Health commenced a whole of system review of its COVID-19 response in May 2022. At the time of writing, the completion due date for the debrief is 7 November 2022. This debrief is expected to explore:
- governance
- engagement
- innovation and technology
- community impact
- workforce impact
- system impact and performance.
NSW Health is also undertaking a parallel Intra-Action Review that is focused on the public health aspects of the response with finalisation estimated for the end of November 2022. At the time of completing this performance audit report, NSW Health had not finalised these reviews and, as a result, we cannot validate their findings against our own observations.
Recent inquiries are likely to impact the governance of emergency management in New South Wales
In March 2022, the NSW Government established an independent inquiry to examine and report on the causes of, preparedness for, response to and recovery from the 2022 floods. The Flood Inquiry report made 28 recommendations, which the NSW Government supported in full or in principle. Some of the recommendations relate directly to the governance and leadership of emergency management arrangements in New South Wales.
The State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) will likely be involved in, and impacted by, the recommendations arising from the Flood Inquiry with potential changes to its membership and reshaping of functional areas and agencies. At the same time, the SEMC may have a role in overseeing the changes that emerge from the SEOC consolidated after-action reviews. This can also extend to ensuring local and regional bodies have incorporated the required actions. There is a risk that the recommendations from the pandemic-based after-action reviews may not be considered due to the priority of action resulting from the Flood Inquiry.
Furthermore, there is potential for the SEMC to work with NSW Health during its system-wide review. Such an approach is likely to improve preparedness for future events.
Appendix one – Response from agencies
Appendix two – Chronology 2020–2021
Appendix three – About the audit
Appendix four – Performance auditing
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Parliamentary reference - Report number #371 - released 20 December 2022
Actions for Members' additional entitlements 2022
Members' additional entitlements 2022
What the report is about
The Auditor-General's review analyses claims made by members of the NSW Parliament during the 2021–22 financial year by testing a sample of transactions. Our sample consisted of 63 claims submitted by 59 of the 142 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 38 departures from the determination, which were of an administrative nature.
What we recommended
The Department of Parliamentary Services (the department) should continue to work with the presiding officers, members, the clerk of the Parliaments and the clerk of the Legislative Assembly to enhance reporting of members' expenditure.
The Auditor-General has reviewed the compliance of the members of the NSW Parliament (members) with certain requirements outlined in the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal's Determination (the determination) for the year ended 30 June 2022.
The Auditor-General's review analyses claims made by members during the 2021–22 financial year. We use data analytics to select a sample of members' claims, and focus on claims that data analysis identifies as being at higher risk. We do not test every claim made by members. Our sample consisted of 63 claims submitted by 59 of the 142 members.
Results
Although our review did not identify any instances of material non-compliance with the determination for the year ended 30 June 2022, we did identify 38 departures from the determination, which were of administrative nature. Such departures may help identify areas in the current processes where greater clarity is needed or where training or education for members is warranted. These departures were as follows:
- 12 claims were not submitted for payment within 60 days of receipt or occurrence of the expense
- 16 annual loyalty scheme declarations were submitted by members after the due date specified in the guidelines
- 6 reconciliations for the Sydney Allowance were submitted after the due date
- 4 publications claimed under the Communications Allowance had not made the required authorisations and attributions on the publication.
Background
The Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal (the tribunal) determines the salary and additional entitlements of the members, details of which are set out in the tribunal's annual determination. The NSW Parliament, through the Department of Parliamentary Services (the department), administers payments of additional entitlements to members. An overview is presented below:
Twelve claims were not submitted for payment within 60 days of receipt or occurrence of the expense
The determination requires members' expense claims to be submitted to the department within 60 days of when the expense is incurred or receipted. Our audit procedures identified 12 instances where members submitted their claims between 15 and 280 days late.
Sixteen annual loyalty/incentive scheme declarations were submitted by members after the due date specified in the guidelines
At the end of each financial year, members must declare they have not used loyalty/incentive scheme benefits accrued from their parliamentary duties for private purposes. The determination requires current members to complete the declarations at the end of each year (by 31 July 2022 per the department's administrative process). Former members must complete the declarations within 30 days of leaving Parliament.
We found 16 current members submitted their declarations between one and nine days late. The declaration is important as it affirms that loyalty benefits accrued using the members' parliamentary allowances and entitlements were not used for private purposes. Additionally, we found two members who did not submit their declaration form.
Six reconciliations for the Sydney Allowance reconciliations were submitted after the due date
Open prior period recommendations
Enhanced public reporting
In 2016, the Auditor-General's Report to Parliament recommended the tribunal consider requiring the department to regularly publish full details of members' expenditure claims on its website in an accessible and searchable format. The tribunal had developed a plan requiring greater public reporting of members' additional expenditure from 1 July 2019 but does not have the power to require the department to facilitate this. This matter has been raised every year since 2016 and it continues to remain an open recommendation in 2022.
The Annual Reports of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, published on the Parliament's website, currently list the total amount claimed during the year by each member for each allowance. However, transparency around members’ claims would be enhanced if information was more extensively and regularly published on the Parliament’s website. The department should continue to work with the presiding officers, members, the clerk of the Parliaments and the clerk of the Legislative Assembly to enhance reporting of members' expenditure.
Resolved prior period recommendations
Clarifying key parameters of the annual determination
In 2020, the Auditor-General's Report to Parliament recommended the department work with the tribunal to provide additional guidance to members to clarify the:
- definition of 'parliamentary duties'
- activities that meet the definition
- requirements for retaining documents.
To address this recommendation, the department performed a review of the definitions and activities used by other jurisdictions in their administration of members' entitlements. The department has clarified these items as part of their submission with respect to the 2022 determination. The department will continue to monitor for changes in the administration of members' entitlements occurring at the federal level.
Appendix one – response from Department of Parliamentary Services
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Actions for Premier and Cabinet 2022
Premier and Cabinet 2022
What the report is about
Result of the Premier and Cabinet cluster financial statement audits for the year ended 30 June 2022.
What we found
Unmodified audit opinions were issued for all Premier and Cabinet cluster agencies.
The machinery of government changes within the Premier and Cabinet cluster resulted in the transfer of net assets of $1 billion from the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
The Department of Premier and Cabinet, Public Service Commission and Parliamentary Counsel's Office accepted changes to their office leasing arrangements managed by Property NSW. These changes resulted in the collective de-recognition of $167.3 million of right-of-use assets, $225.1 million in lease liabilities and recognition of $47.8 million of other gains/losses.
What the key issues were
The number of issues we reported to management decreased.
Forty per cent of issues were repeated from the prior year.
Four moderate risk issues were reported in the management letters for Department of Premier and Cabinet and New South Wales Electoral Commission. Three out of the four moderate risk issues were repeat issues.
The repeat issues related to internal control deficiencies in agencies' including lack of updated procurement policies and procedures and information technology general controls.
Fast facts
The Premier and Cabinet cluster comprises seven agencies, delivering the government's objectives and facilitating stewardship of the public service.
- $0.2b property, plant and equipment as at 30 June 2022
- $3b total expenditure incurred in 2021–22
- 100% unqualified audit opinions issued on agencies’ 30 June 2022 financial statements
- 4 moderate risk findings identified
- 15 monetary misstatements reported in 2021–22
- 40% of reported issues were repeat issues
This report provides Parliament and other users of the Premier and Cabinet’s financial statements with the results of our audits, analysis, conclusions and recommendations in the following areas:
- financial reporting
- audit observations.
Financial reporting is an important element of good governance. Confidence and transparency in public sector decision-making are enhanced when financial reporting is accurate and timely.
This chapter outlines our audit observations related to the financial reporting of agencies in the Premier and Cabinet cluster for 2022.
Section highlights
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Appropriate financial controls help ensure the efficient and effective use of resources and administration of agency policies. They are essential for quality and timely decision making.
This chapter outlines our observations and insights from our financial statement audits of agencies in the Premier and Cabinet cluster.
Section highlights
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Appendix one – Early close procedures
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© Copyright reserved by the Audit Office of New South Wales. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent of the Audit Office of New South Wales. The Audit Office does not accept responsibility for loss or damage suffered by any person acting on or refraining from action as a result of any of this material.