Please direct enquiries relating to requests for audit through our contact page.
The Auditor-General responded on 11 March 2020 to follow-up correspondence from Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, requesting an audit into the Federal and South Australian governments’ agreement to reduce SA’s Murray-Darling river water allocation by 100GL and Commonwealth funding provided to increase the use of the state’s desalination plant to replace the water. The Auditor-General responded to the original correspondence from Senator Hanson-Young on 19 December 2019. The Auditor-General provided a follow-up response to Senator Hanson-Young on 24 July 2020.
24 July 2020
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Australian Greens Senator for South Australia
By email: Senator.Hanson-Young@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Hanson-Young
On 11 March 2020 I wrote to you noting that I would consider your request for an audit of the Water for Fodder program in the development of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) 2020-21 Annual Audit Work Program (AAWP).
Your request was carefully considered in relation to other competing priorities for audit coverage across the public sector, including audit topics related to the government’s response to COVID-19, and I decided that an audit of the program you referred is not currently a higher priority than other audits currently included in the AAWP and therefore has not been included as a potential audit topic in the program.
The AAWP is available from the ANAO’s website at https://www.anao.gov.au/work-program.
The ANAO will continue to monitor emerging risks and challenges that impact on the public sector and review planned audit coverage throughout the year in response to these factors. I also intend to undertake further consideration of COVID-19 related topics as the government response to this pandemic is implemented.
Yours sincerely
Grant Hehir
11 March 2020
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Australian Greens Senator for South Australia
By email: Senator.Hanson-Young@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Hanson-Young,
Thank you for your letter of 28 February 2020 drawing my attention to the recent ABC report in relation to the Water for Fodder program and seeking my consideration of these matters in determining whether the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) will commence an audit of the program.
As advised in my response of 19 December 2019 to your letter of 26 November 2019, requesting the ANAO examine the Water for Fodder program, I will consider the matters you have raised in the context of developing the ANAO’s 2020-21 Annual Audit Work Program (work program).
The work program is designed to inform the Parliament, the public and government entities of planned audit coverage to commence in 2020–21 and will be published on the ANAO website in early July 2020.
Yours sincerely
Grant Hehir
28 February 2020
Mr Grant Hehir
Auditor-General
Australian National Audit Office
GPO Box 707
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Dear Mr Hehir
Water for Fodder program
I refer to my letter to you dated 26 November 2019 requesting an audit of the deal struck between the Federal Government and the South Australian Government for a program now known as Water for Fodder.
In the letter I raised serious concerns about the deal which seemed to be a short-sighted, expensive and poorly thought out response to the issues of drought and lack of water in NSW and Victoria. There seemed to be great potential for mismanagement of the program and rorting of taxpayers' money.
Today, the ABC has reported that:
The program clearly lacks transparency and it is reportedly creating division within communities. Its effectiveness appears to be seriously compromised and the program deeply flawed.
I hope you will consider these matters as you make a decision about whether the program should be examined by your office as I previously requested.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Your sincerely
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Australian Greens Spokesperson for Water
19 December 2019
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Australian Greens Senator for South Australia
By e-mail: Senator.Hanson-Young@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Hanson-Young
I am writing in response to your letter of 26 November 2019, requesting an examination of the Federal and South Australian governments’ agreement to reduce South Australia’s Murray-Darling river water allocation by 100GL and Commonwealth funding provided to increase the use of the state’s desalination plant to replace the water.
I responded to the Hon Joel Fitzgibbon MP’s request for an audit of all Government drought initiatives on 29 October 2019. In the response I noted that seven of the 21 drought support measures advised by the Department of Agriculture as at 2 October 2019, included in the Federal government’s $7 billion drought support funding, have been subject to previous or current audits by the ANAO. Mr Fitzgibbon’s request and my response is available on the ANAO website here: https://www.anao.gov.au/work/request/federal-government-drought-funding-measures.
In addition, the ANAO has also examined aspects of the design, evaluation and administration of a number of significant Australian Government funded water programs and activities, including:
Given the extent of audit activity undertaken and currently underway, I do not intend to commence an audit on the matters referred at this time. I will, however, consider the matters you raised in the context of developing the ANAO’s 2020–21 Annual Audit Work Program.
Yours sincerely
Grant Hehir
Auditor-General
26 November 2019
Mr Grant Hehir
Auditor-General
Australian National Audit Office
GPO Box 707
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Dear Mr Hehir
100GL/SA Desalination Plant deal and Water for Fodder program
I write to request an audit into the deal struck between the Federal Government and the South Australian Government for 100GL of Murray-Darling River water to be cut from SA's allocation and the Commonwealth to fund the increased use of the state's desalination plant to instead provide the same amount of water to the state.
I have raised serious concerns with this deal since it was first announced by the Prime Minister on 7 November 2019, as it seemed like a short-sighted, expensive and poorly thought out response to the issues of drought and lack of water in NSW and Victoria. However, I am now even more concerned this program has the potential to be mismanaged. I am writing to ask that you assess the implementation before taxpayers money is rorted.
I note of particular concern is the response provided by the Federal Government to an Order for Production of Documents passed by the Senate on 14 November 2019. The OPD required that the written agreement between SA and the Federal Government, the Project Agreement setting out the terms and conditions of the Water for Fodder program, and all other correspondence and documentation between the State and Federal Government as well as relevant departments and agencies including the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, be laid on the table by 5pm, 15 November 2019. On November 21, I received only three pages which fit the criteria of documentation relating to the deal. The first is a letter from the Prime Minister to the SA Premier The Hon. Steven Marshall dated 18 November 2019, seeking to finalise details of the program. There is then two further pages of notes about the almost $100 million deal. It is clear no formal agreement has been reached despite the intention to spend almost $100 million of taxpayers funds and prevent 100GL of water flowing down the Murray-Darling into South Australia.
Corruption and scandals have plagued the Plan. The SA Royal Commission, which reported in January 2019, found serious problems with the development and implementation of the Plan and called into the legalities of the Plan itself. The recent Senate Inquiry into a Greens' Bill to establish a Federal Commission of Inquiry into the Plan heard from many key stakeholders who made submissions in support of the Bill that there was an urgent need for transparency and better analysis of Basin water reforms. Now we have the Government doing deals with SA on the fly, which not only affect the Plan but will incur significant cost for taxpayers without environmental or economic analysis and with no details about mechanisms to prevent rorting or deliver water to the intended recipients. I hope you will agree it is a deeply concerning situation that should be examined by your office.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young