Report calls for improved public administration and security

FEDERAL PARLIAMENT’s Public Accounts Committee has presented its report on five Australian National Audit Office reports from 2013-14:

• Audit Report No. 42, Screening of International Mail
• Audit Report No. 43, Managing Compliance with Environment Protection and   Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Conditions of Approval
• Audit Report No. 48, Administration of the Australian Business Register
• Audit Report No. 50, Cyber Attacks: Securing Agencies’ ICT Systems
• Audit Report No. 52, Multi-Role Helicopter Program

Committee Chair Dr Andrew Southcott MP said that these are significant areas of public administration where the public and the Parliament want to see improved outcomes. They also involve important issues of public safety and security.

“Two key themes emerging from these reports were the importance of agencies taking an appropriate risk based approach and also, where appropriate, working cooperatively with other agencies and stakeholders to achieve common objectives,” Dr Southcott said.

The Committee’s report includes recommendations directed at:

• Australian Customs and the Department of Agriculture reviewing methods of screening international mail to ensure Australia conforms to international best practice, and strengthening cooperative arrangements with other countries regarding identification of illicit firearm shipments
• Commonwealth agencies achieving full compliance with required strategies and controls in the Australian Signal Directorate’s Information Security Manual, and increased scrutiny of this area
• increased scrutiny of the Department of Environment’s management of the EPBC Act compliance framework and new one-stop-shop arrangements, and improved performance reporting in this area
• the Department of Defence and the Defence Materiel Organisation publishing annual figures on Australian industry content in their acquisition and sustainment contracts
• the Australian Taxation Office and partner agencies working more closely together to reduce entry points for business interactions with government through the Australian Business Register, and providing more efficient registration and reporting mechanisms

Copies of the report and further information about the inquiry can be accessed via the Committee’s website at: www.aph.gov.au/jcpaa.

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