Katherine Ziesing | Canberra

Last year when the first report into disposal was released, Defence didn’t come out of the process unharmed. The ANAO concluded that significant changes needed to be made to the previous framework and made five recommendations that were to be reported on 12 months later, according to Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA).

"Defence’s process for determining that audit recommendations are implemented did not work effectively."

A year on, the new report gives updates on the progress made in implementing new procedures and frameworks. In a nutshell; it’s mixed but they’re on the right track. 

The ANO, it seems, was less than impressed with the changes made so far.

“Defence has implemented the JCPAA recommendation and one of the five recommendations made in the previous ANAO audit,” the report states. “Defence has partially implemented the four remaining audit recommendations. While Defence planned for the implementation of all recommendations, its approach to monitoring progress was inconsistent and was not applied to the JCPAA recommendation.

“Defence’s process for determining that audit recommendations are implemented did not work effectively when applied to two of the previous audit’s recommendations. These recommendations were closed prematurely and without independent assurance to the Defence Executive by the Defence Audit and Risk Committee.”

ADM Comment: Given the organisation is also undergoing huge internal changes in light of the First Principles Review and the new One Defence model, the progress in the last 12 months isn’t too bad. It will be interesting to see what happens with future major disposals. This writer admits to shedding a tear when she learned that some old F-111s were literally shredded and/or buried. Surely there are better ways.