Overcrowding in the NSW prison system continues to worsen along with the backlog of cases in the District Court, according to a report released by the New South Wales Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford on the annual financial statements audits in the Justice cluster.

In a report released today, the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford provides a snapshot of reported fraud in the NSW public sector and an analysis of NSW Government agencies’ fraud controls based on a survey of 102 agencies.

The NSW Government’s ‘program evaluation initiative’, introduced to assess whether service delivery programs achieve expected outcomes and value for money, is largely ineffective according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

Government services, in areas such as public order and safety, health and education, are delivered by agencies through a variety of programs. In 2016–17, the NSW Government estimates that it will spend over $73 billion on programs to deliver services.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #277 - released 3 November 2016

Police officers and firefighters in NSW are benefiting from an improved focus on preventing and managing injuries, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General. However, the audit found these gains may not be enough to offset risks associated with increasing common law claims, and death and disability scheme costs.

‘Emergency service workers face dangerous situations and traumatic scenes’ said the Auditor-General ‘and are at a significant risk of injury and illness. While the NSW Police Force and Fire & Rescue NSW have made positive shifts towards more proactive injury prevention and better return to work programs and practices, both face significant cost issues.’

Parliamentary reference - Report number #275 - released 13 October 2016

The management of the sale and lease of Crown land is not effective because oversight of decision-making is inadequate and community involvement is limited, according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

The audit found limited oversight of sales and leases of Crown land by the Department of Industry - Lands. The Department has only just started monitoring whether tenants are complying with lease conditions, and does not have a clear view of what is happening on most leased Crown land. The majority of guidance provided to staff has not been updated in the past decade, contributing to staff not correctly implementing policies on rental rebates, unpaid rent, rent redeterminations and the direct negotiation of sales and leases on Crown land.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #273 - released 8 September 2016

The effectiveness of Corrective Services NSW’s performance framework is limited because organisational key performance indicators (KPIs) do not cascade to public correctional centres, according to a report released today by the Acting New South Wales Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.

'As a result, individual public correctional centres could not be assessed on how well they are contributing to overall Corrective Service objectives, and it is difficult to vary performance expectations in response to changing operating environments', said Mr Whitfield. 'Its commissioning and contestability project is designed to address these issues', he added.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #267 - released 3 March 2016

The NSW Government continues to divest its interest in electricity businesses.
 
In 2014-15, Macquarie Generation and Delta Electricity’s Colongra power stations were sold, collectively raising over $1.7 billion in gross proceeds.
 
In November 2015, the NSW Government announced the lease of TransGrid for 99 years to a private sector consortium for $10.3 billion and the sale of Delta Electricity’s Vales Point power station for $1.0 million. It expects to lease 50.4 percent of Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy during 2016, but retain 100 percent ownership of Essential Energy.
 
Its net investment in the electricity businesses at 30 June 2015 was $10.8 billion ($11.4 billion at 30 June 2014). This comprised $14.0 million in the electricity generators, $2.1 billion in TransGrid and $8.7 billion in the distributors.

Serious system limitations prevented TAFE NSW from providing sufficient and appropriate evidence to support recorded student revenue of $477 million, student receivables and accrued income of $47.6 million and unearned revenue of $398 million.
 
These limitations resulted in: 

• a qualified audit opinion being issued for TAFE NSW;
• delays in enrolling students;
• inability to fully reconcile cash balances;
• difficulties in reconciling student enrolments with revenues recorded in the financial statements;
• large volumes of manual processing.

The distributions to the NSW Government increased from $690 million in 2013-14 to $1.0 billion in 2014-15. The increase was largely due to a higher dividend from Sydney Water Corporation.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has reduced the average time to assess contaminated sites from 203 days in 2013-14 to 73 days in 2014-15. It is also improving transparency by making more information on its performance publicly available.
 
In 2014-15, the Department of Planning and Environment increased new housing approvals across New South Wales by 12 per cent to 58,252, exceeding the State priority target of 50,000. It also reduced the time taken to assess major projects from about three years in 2013-14 to four months in 2014-15.