29 April 2019

Senator Rex Patrick
Senator Stirling Griff
Ms Rebekha Sharkie MP
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
The Hon. Tony Burke MP
Senator Cory Bernardi

Dear Members and Senators

Further to your letter of 24 April 2018 and my reply of 10 May 2018, I write to advise that I have decided to commence an audit entitled ‘Procurement of Strategic Water Entitlements’.

This performance audit has now formally commenced and I have advised the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources accordingly. The criteria for this audit are listed at https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/procurement-strategic-water-entitlements. In short, the performance audit will look at the design of the current policy for water buy-backs, and whether its implementation has been effective.

The audit is currently forecast to table in Parliament in December 2019.

If you would like to provide any input to the audit or subscribe to the audit to receive updates, this can be done through the following link: https://www.anao.gov.au/work-program/in-progress.

Yours sincerely

Grant Hehir

10 May 2018

Senator Rex Patrick
Senator Stirling Griff
Ms Rebekha Sharkie
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
The Hon. Tony Burke MP
Senator Cory Bernardi

I am writing in response to your letter of 24 April 2018 requesting an audit of Commonwealth purchases of water for environmental water flows in the Murray-Darling Basin.

My office is currently consulting on the draft annual audit work program (work program).  The work program is designed to inform the Parliament, the public and government entities of planned audit coverage in 2018–19. As required under the Auditor-General Act 1997, I must have regard to the audit priorities of the Parliament as determined by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA). I have therefore recently written to the JCPAA seeking input into the draft work program. I also consider it important to seek feedback from Australian Government entities and have written to the accountable authorities that are the subject of proposed performance audit coverage to seek feedback on the topics relevant to their interests. In addition, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has invited comment from the public on the draft work program through the ANAO website at https://www.anao.gov.au/work-program/draft.

A proposed audit Procurement of strategic water entitlements is included in the 2018-19 draft work program. This audit would examine the procurement of strategic water entitlements by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, including consideration of value for money and the application of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. In the event that the ANAO commences the proposed audit during this financial year, I will consider the specific matters you have raised in the context of planning the objectives and scope of the audit.

Following receipt and consideration of all feedback, the work program will be published in early July 2018. The work program will include around 100 potential performance audit and assurance review topics, and provides details about our in-progress performance audit and assurance work. Throughout the year, I consider these identified audit priorities, recent developments in the public sector, requests for audit, and resourcing and decide which audits will commence.

Yours sincerely

Grant Hehir