ABC defamation case payment
(request for audit — responded)
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Request for audit
Inclusion of the ABC defamation case payment in the Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23
Response provided
Responded: Friday 22 April 2022
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The Auditor-General responded on 22 April 2022 to correspondence from Senator the Hon Eric Abetz dated 28 March 2022, requesting that the ABC’s defamation case payment be included as a topic in the ANAO’s Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23.
Auditor-General's response
22 April 2022
Senator the Hon Eric Abetz
Senator for Tasmania
By email: Senator.Abetz@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Abetz
Request for inclusion of an audit of the ABC defamation case payment in the ANAO’s Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23
I am writing in response to your letter of 28 March 2022 requesting I consider including an audit of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s (ABC) defamation case payment in the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23.
As you noted in your letter, in my response to your initial request for an audit of this matter I advised that to the ANAO’s knowledge there is no policy, precedent, process or documented advice prepared by the ABC, to support the appropriateness of the decision to meet the personal defamation costs of an employee. It is these types of frameworks that the ANAO would require to form an audit opinion on the appropriateness of the payment.
The ANAO provides the Parliament with independent reporting, assurance, audit opinions and assistance to support the Australian Parliament in its role to examine the operations of government entities and hold the government entities to account for its use of public resources and administration of legislation passed by the Parliament. I trust that the information ANAO provided in response to your initial correspondence following our enquiries of the ABC provided transparency concerning the circumstances surrounding the payment. The ANAO also provided testimony in relation to this matter to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 2021–22 Supplementary Estimates public hearing on 25 October 2021 and to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit public hearing for its inquiry into the review of the Auditor-General Act 1997 on 28 October 2021.
The facts around payments of legal costs will be examined in the course of ANAO’s 2021–22 financial statements audit of the ABC. I will also consider the matter in the broader context of developing the ANAO’s Annual Audit Work Program 2022–23.
Yours sincerely
Grant Hehir
Correspondence from Senator the Hon Eric Abetz
Transcript of letter from Senator the Hon Eric Abetz
28 March 2022
Mr Grant Hehir
Auditor-General
Australian National Audit Office
GPO Box 707
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Dear Auditor-General,
Re: Audit Priorities of the Parliament 2022-23
Further to my letter (17 August 2021) outlining my concerns over the payment by the ABC for damages and legal costs of one of its employees in a private defamation case, I note that the Draft Annual Audit Work Program 2022-23 does not include any plan to examine the probity of this payment.
I also note your response on 15 October 2021, which says, ‘In the absence of any ABC policy, precedent, or process in place for this payment, in the course of an audit the ANAO would usually assess appropriateness in the context of proper use within the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 definition, which relates to efficient, effective, economical and ethical — along with the auditing principle of materiality. Given the available information, I do not believe I would be able to form a view on the appropriateness of this decision.’
The defamation case and the payment attracted substantial public attention and given at the time a ‘view was not able to be formed on the appropriateness of this decision’, appropriate scrutiny by your office as to the rectitude and legal foundation for the purposing of taxpayer funds by the ABC is therefore warranted in the Draft Annual Audit Work Program 2022-23.
I thank you for your consideration and await your response in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Eric Abetz
Liberal Senator for Tasmania