AUDITING – AUSTRALIA

Audit for PM’s flagship housing fund

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Oct-25

The Australian National Audit Office will undertake a review of the federal government’s $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, amid growing criticism of the fund. Auditor-General Caralee McLiesh has advised that the ANAO wil also examine the effectiveness of the Treasury’s design and delivery of the HAFF. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has described the HAFF as one of the nation’s biggest public policy disasters, likening it to the previous Labor government’s Pink Batts home-insulation scheme. The HAFF aims to build 40,000 social and affordable homes by 2028, and it is part of the government’s target of building 1.2 million new dwellings over five years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. HOUSING AUSTRALIA FUTURE FUND, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Federal auditor to probe Labor’s $2.2b rail plan

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Original article by Gus McCubbing
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 13-Feb-24

A Senate estimates hearing has been told that Auditor-General Grant Hehir will examine the federal government’s $2.2 billion commitment to Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop project. Hehir will look at whether this commitment represents value for money and if it was "informed by appropriate departmental advice". Department of Infrastructure secretary Jim Betts said the department will co-operate fully with Hehir’s investigation. Marion Terrill, former director of the Grattan Institute’s Transport and Cities Program, has welcomed the investigation, stating that big projects require more rather than less scrutiny.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Tax office targets lawyers’ privileges

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Taxation Office is hoping a new industry code of conduct that is being developed with the Law Council of Australia and other professional bodies will lead to improved auditing of multinationals. The ATO is finding it difficult to conduct such audits because lawyers are making blanket claims that documents being sought are subject to legal privilege. ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says law firms have no interest in seeing privilege claims that turn out to be false, as this could put the concept of privilege at risk.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COMMOTION SYSTEMS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

AEC criticised over election security

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 23-Jan-18

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has accused the Australian Electoral Commission of misleading voters about the level of polling security at the 2016 federal election. Hehir also found that the amount that the AEC paid contractors to transport voters’ ballot papers was higher than it had budgeted for, and that it had made a last-minute decision to manually count more than 14 million large Senate ballot papers. The AEC had spent $A27.2 million on scanning systems, but it determined that they were not accurate enough.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE

LNG giants face bill for underpaid royalties

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 19 & 22 : 29-Nov-16

The royalty regime for the North West Shelf LNG project is under scrutiny following a review by the Australian National Audit Office. Amongst other things, the ANAO concluded that there are deficiencies in the way royalty payments are calculated, while the project’s partners may not be entitled to all of the deductions which they have claimed. A spokeswoman for Woodside Petroleum says the company has strict compliance procedures regarding royalty payments, and any underpayment is unlikely to exceed $A11.6m.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, NORTH WEST SHELF LNG PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF MINES AND PETROLEUM, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, BP PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, JAPAN AUSTRALIA LNG PTY LTD, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED