The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is hosting the 21st Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) Congress 28–30 August 2018.

About PASAI

PASAI is the official association of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Pacific region. View the PASAI website.

The Congress is PASAI’s supreme authority and consists of all PASAI members and has been held annually since 2006.

Congress Communique

The Congress Communique is now available to download: 

Congress theme, agenda and guide

Theme

The theme of the 21st Congress is Embracing the Digital Future.

Advancing technology is changing the ways in which we communicate, as well as how we collect and analyse audit data. Congress discussions and workshops will share experiences, success stories and lessons learned about reliable and emerging technologies – and resources that support efficient, quality audit services and products.

 

Agenda and guide

The Governing Board meeting will be held on 27 August 2018, with the Congress to be held from 28 to 30 August 2018.

The draft agenda for the congress is now available to download: 

The congress guide is now available to download: 

If you subscribe to be notified of updates to this page, then you will be alerted to further updates.

View the business session and incorporated annual meeting papers (password required).

Speaker biographies

Senator Dean Smith

Dean Smith was appointed a Senator for Western Australia in May 2012. In his first five years, Senator Smith has been a champion for WA issues, including being the first WA Federal Liberal parliamentarian to call for a fairer share of the GST for WA; standing up for WA wheat growers against attempts to unwind WA’s successful wheat export arrangements; leading the campaign against local government recognition in the constitutional in 2013; leading efforts for reform of Australia’s free speech laws in 2016; and advocated other issues such as supporting WA grandparent carers raising their grandchildren.

Among his many parliamentary roles, Senator Smith has been Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Human Rights and is currently the Chair of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, one of the oldest and most senior joint committees in the Parliament. Senator Smith is the Government’s Deputy Whip in the Senate and also holds a number of other Government appointments including Deputy Chair of the Australian Political Exchange Council and the Government’s representative on the Australian National University’s Australian Centre on China in the World’s Advisory Board.

Senator Smith is the Liberal Party’s first openly gay federal parliamentarian and in February 2015 become a public advocate for equality before the law for same-sex couples in Australia. He was a member of the 2017 Senate Select Committee that tabled a consensus report on how to legislate for same-sex marriage while at the same time protecting people’s religious views about marriage. Senator Smith has consistently argued for a parliamentary free vote to resolve the issue of same-sex marriage in Australia, was the only member of the Coalition to publicly argue against the plebiscite and did not support the plebiscite legislation when it came before the Senate.

Dean brings to his parliamentary role over 10 years corporate experience at IAG and SingTel Optus. He has been a member of the WA Liberal Party for almost 30 years and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 2011 for his service.

Petero Civoniceva

Petero Civoniceva is an NRL legend from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

A Queensland State of Origin and Australian International representative prop forward, in 2009 Petero broke the record for most international matches for Australia of any forward in history.

In total, Petero played 45 Tests for Australia, 33 games for QLD in State of Origin and 309 NRL games.

Petero played his club football for the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 1998, 2000 and 2006 NRL Premierships, as well as for the Penrith Panthers, whom he captained.

Late in his career, Civoniceva captained the Fijian national team in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign.

The Petero Civoniceva Medal is awarded to the Australian Fijian rugby league player of the year.

Dr Lucy Cameron

Dr Lucy Cameron

Dr Lucy Cameron is a Senior Research Consultant with Australia’s Data61 Insight Team: a specialist unit within CSIRO designed to provide a 10-20 year view into the future to inform strategy and technology development and investment.

Prior to taking up her role with Data61 Lucy was Principal Policy Officer and Manager in Digital Economy and Productivity, ICT Industry Development, and Innovation in the Queensland Government (2006-2016). In 2015 she was a Queensland Government Smithsonian Fellow – and spent 3 months in Washington studying the role of government in the development of innovation hot-spots. 

Lucy has a PhD from the University of Queensland for a study on broadband and regional development, and has also undertaken research and gained funding for universities and regional development organisations.  In 2005 she was an Australian Civil Society representative at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva. She has authored book chapters, journal articles and conference papers on broadband, regional development, higher education and entrepreneurial activity.

Lucy is currently leading a large foresight study into Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy in collaboration with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

Dr Michael Nunan

Michael is a health systems specialist who has worked in overseas development for more than 10 years across Asia, Africa and extensively in the Pacific, having spent five years in Solomon Islands, as well as completing work in Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tokelau and Fiji.  Originally a pharmacist, Michael has an MPH from Sydney University and a PhD from Melbourne University, where he had previously worked as a research fellow at the Centre for International Child Health. 

Michael is currently the project lead for Tupaia, a health data platform used across six Pacific Island Countries for strengthening health supply chains, disaster response, disease tracking and improving health systems. Michael has extensive experience in health supply chains, essential medicines policy and eHealth, with a particular interest in the intersection of logistics and commodity data with broader health and epidemiological indicators. He is a Director of Beyond Essential Systems and has consulted for the World Food Program, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO and DFAT.

Andrew Byrne

Andrew Byrne, First Assistant Secretary at DFAT

Andrew Byrne is First Assistant Secretary for Soft Power, Communications and Scholarships in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He was previously the Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands. Mr Byrne has also served overseas in Australia’s embassies in Manila and Jakarta; and on short-term missions in Bougainville and Singapore.

In Canberra, Mr Byrne's previous roles have included Assistant Secretary, Consular Policy Branch and Assistant Secretary, Canada and Latin America Branch. Prior to joining DFAT he worked in the departments of Defence, Transport and Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Mr Byrne holds Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degrees from Flinders University and a Masters degree from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.

Theme presenters

Sairusi Dukuno

Sairusi Dukuno, Deputy Auditor General with Office of the Auditor General, Republic of Fiji

Sairusi Dukuno is the Deputy Auditor General with Office of the Auditor General, Republic of Fiji. He graduated from University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji with his undergraduate degree in Accounting & Management & Public Administration in 1993. He also completed his Master for Professional Accounting from University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia in 2010.

He started his audit career with the Office of the Auditor General, Fiji as a Graduate Trainee from October1994 and has remained with the Office for over 23 years. He rose up the ranks by taking up various positions until he got appointed as Deputy Auditor General in May 2017 and just over 1 year in that role as Deputy Auditor General.

He is a Chartered Accountant with Fiji Institute of Accountant and a member and Board member for the Institute of Internal Audit (Fiji Chapter).

Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson, Queensland Audit Office

Karen is an assistant auditor-general at the Queensland Audit Office (QAO).

Karen leads the Specialist Audit Division. This division supports the deliverables of the financial and performance audit teams. The supporting teams include technical and treasury audit experts, IT system and risk auditors, the audit analytics team and audit practice.

Karen’s background is in audit and consulting with chartered accounting firms including 10 years with EY in Brisbane and Hong Kong. Karen joined QAO in 2011 as the assistant auditor-general in financial audit.

QAO decided to invest in an audit analytics solution in 2014 and Karen has managed the team through the development of the initial strategy to its current implementation. QAO’s audit analytics team supports financial audit, performance audit and ad-hoc investigative and forensic work.

Xiaoyan Lu

Xiaoyan Lu, Senior Director responsible for the ANAO Data & Analytics team

Xiaoyan Lu is the Senior Director responsible for the ANAO Data & Analytics team. She has worked in the research and analytic industry for over 19 years with extensive experience in research and data analytics.

Xiaoyan joined the ANAO in April 2018 to deliver the ANAO’s Data Analytics Strategy 2018-20, which covers the governance, technology, data, process, and people capability development. During her time at ANAO, she has developed the Data Analytics Capability Framework for ANAO and streamlined the data analytics process for audit projects. She is currently leading the data analytics pilot projects that aim to show the ‘art of the possible’– new ways of using data analytics & tools in financial statement audits and performance audits.

Prior to joining ANAO, Xiaoyan has multiple roles in her career related to research, data and analysis. As a Senior Data Analyst, she has undertaken complex analytical tasks, developed advanced statistical modelling, and led the analytical capability development within the organisations and across the sectors. As a Senior Insights Director, she identifies critical issues and use insights gained through research and data analytics to inform strategy development, policy formulation, program design and business decisions. As a Program Director, she spent her last 11 years at the Australian Sports Commission leading and delivering a social research and market insights agenda to enable data driven decision making for the sports sector.

Xiaoyan has extensive experience in designing social research and program evaluation through her career in both consultancy firms and government sector. Xiaoyan holds an accreditation of Qualified Professional Market Researcher (QPMR) from Australian Market and Social Research Society (AMSRS). She has represented the government agencies’ interests on the AMSRS ACT Committee since 2012. She is a strong advocate and has facilitated to create opportunities among government agencies to share best practices.

Xiaoyan holds a Bachelor degree of Science, a Master degree of Environmental Sciences and a Master degree of Applied Statistics.

Scott Stanton

Scott Stanton, Assistant Auditor-General, Financial Audit

Assistant Auditor-General, Financial Audit
B.Comm FCPA GAICD

Scott has significant experience in leading the delivery of financial audit services to a diverse range of public sector clients including those in the transport, electricity and the university sector. He is a past Chair of CPA Australia’s NSW Public Sector Committee and has served on CPA Australia’s NSW Divisional Council. Scott joined the Audit Office in 1987 and was appointed Assistant Auditor-General on 30 August 2010.

Scott is sponsor for the Data Analytics strategic initiative at the Audit Office of NSW and is also sponsor of the Office’s Twinning arrangement with the Solomon Islands Office of the Auditor General.

Terence Su’a

Director of IT Audit Services, Samoa Audit Office

Terence Su’a is currently the Director of IT Audit Services with Samoa Audit Office. Terence has been a director for 8 years and with the Samoa Audit Office for 14 years in total.

Terence was part of the team responsible for establishing the IT Audit capacity during the AusAid (now DFAT) Funded Institutional Strengthening Project in 2009-2011. The IT Audit team carried out a number of IT Audit reviews for whole of government and individual ministries as well as developing CAATs to interrogate Payroll and other financial information.

Terence is a certified ISSAI based Compliance Audit facilitator (IDI initiative).

Terence is married with 3 kids and possibly one more on the way and enjoys watching and hoping one day the Wallabies will beat the All Blacks in a Rugby World Cup game.

Congress venue

The congress will be held at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, nestled in the world heritage listed Lamington National Park in Queensland, Australia. For more information about the venue please see here.

Venue map

Retreat and villas map

Transport to the venue

 

The venue is located approximately two hours by road from Brisbane Airport. A shuttle service will be provided for delegates to and from the Congress venue. Planned departure times for shuttle services are provided in the table below. Please plan your travel to meet one of the bus transfer times and locations.

Date

From

To

Departure time

26 and 27 August 2018

Brisbane city centre

O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

12:30pm

26 and 27 August 2018

Brisbane Airport

O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

1:30pm

30 August 2018

O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat

Brisbane Airport and Brisbane city centre

2:30pm

31 August 2018 O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat Brisbane Airport and Brisbane city centre 11:00am
       

Details of pick-up and drop-off locations

Brisbane Airport
Travelex Currency Exchange 
International Terminal Level 2, Arrivals Hall

Brisbane City
Albert Street (adjacent to Wickham Park)


 

Visa Information

The information the ANAO receives from your registration will assist in the visa application process.  After registration, the ANAO will provide relevant details to the Department of Immigration. There are three visa types you may be eligible to apply for in order to gain entry into Australia for the duration of the Congress:

Contacts

Australian National Audit Office: Carin Conlon pasai2018@anao.gov.au

PASAI Secretariat: Natalie Price natalie.price@pasai.org