MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
JULIAN HILL MP
DEPUTY CHAIR JOINT STATUTORY COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
MEMBER FOR BRUCE
NO INTEGRITY, NO ACCOUNTABILITY: MORRISON TAKES REVENGE ON THE AUDITOR-GENERAL FOR SPORTS RORTS AND AIRPORT LAND SCANDAL
The Morrison Government has used the cover of COVID19 to silence the independent watchdog of its rorts and waste by financially crippling the Australian National Audit Office.
Just weeks after a damning ANAO report embarrassed the Government for giving $30 million of taxpayers’ money to a Liberal Party donor for Western Sydney Airport land worth $3 million, the 2020/21 Budget has delivered a devastating blow to the ANAO’s ability to continue to hold the Government to account.
Led by the Auditor-General, the ANAO helps to ensure that taxpayers get value for money for government spending.
As the Morrison recession takes hold and Australia hurtles towards $1 trillion of Liberal debt, now is the worst time to cut scrutiny of government spending as every dollar must count.
Yet instead of providing the $6.5 million boost the ANAO requested, Scott Morrison has cut the ANAO’s budget by a further $1.28 million.
The Auditor-General’s budget was already in serious trouble after years of cuts and deficits, so this latest cut will now drive a rapid fall in the number of performance audits from the annual target of 48 to 38 in coming years.
These latest cuts come just days after the Auditor-General publicly warned that the ongoing cuts to his office “will continue to reduce the ANAO’s capacity to deliver performance audits into the future”.
Make no mistake, this is payback from a Government that hates scrutiny and refuses to ever be held accountable for its waste, rorts and mismanagement.
The attack on the ANAO comes as the Morrison Government repeatedly stalls on its promise to establish an independent commission to investigate corruption.
It has now been almost three years since the Morrison Government claims to have started work on its weak, ineffective and opaque “Commonwealth Integrity Commission”.
It’s almost two years since Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter promised to have draft legislation ready before the end of 2019.
The ever-growing list of scandals surrounding the Morrison Government shows why Australia needs a powerful and independent Audit Office, and a powerful and independent National Integrity Commission – and why Mr Morrison and his colleagues will do everything in their power to crush both of them.
Unlike the Morrison Government, Labor supports and respects the essential work of the Auditor-General and the ANAO and is fully committed to the establishment of a powerful, transparent and independent National Integrity Commission.
THURSDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2020
