Page 3295 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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PUBLIC ACCOUNTS - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on Review of Auditor-General's Report No. 11 of 1993
MR KAINE (11.27): Madam Speaker, I present report No. 14 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled "Review of Auditor-General's Report No. 11, 1993 - Financial Audits with Years Ending to 30 June 1993", together with extracts from the minutes of proceedings. I move:
That the report be noted.
The audit was a review of all agency financial statements, from which a number of issues of significance were noted. However, the committee observes that with the passage of time and with intervening events, such as the inquiries and reports by the Select Committees on Estimates for 1993-94 and 1994-95 and reports on specific agencies by this committee, many of the significant issues noted by the audit have been addressed in one form or another. For example, audit concerns about unfunded superannuation liabilities and the level of investments by the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Leave Board were noted and discussed by both Estimates Committees.
While the committee accepts that some issues raised by the audit may not be current, it considers that there are a number which still require a specific governmental response. The committee has listed those at paragraph 2.6 of the report. We said, for example, that audit opinions on some 14 agency financial statements were qualified for non-compliance with the financial statement guidelines. That is a matter which the committee believes should be followed up. Also, ACT Fleet made a profit, on the face of it, of $2.7m; but that was almost fully offset by losses on plant and workshop operations. Almost $1m of funds provided for the NIES program were unspent at 30 June 1993, representing more than two years' estimated expenditure. There are a number of issues which we believe have not been fully addressed and which the Government should have a look at. The committee has recommended that the Government provide to the Assembly during the current sittings a response on those several issues that we have identified and listed at paragraph 2.6 of the report.
MS ELLIS (11.30): As a member of the committee, I join Mr Kaine in tabling this report. As Mr Kaine has said, it was based mainly on audits of agencies' financial statements for the year ended June 1993. Some time has gone by since then. The committee was generally satisfied with the information put before it; but, as has been mentioned by the chair, a small number of issues need to be tidied up. The committee's recommendation is purely to have the Government report back to the Assembly on those issues.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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