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Industry experts have raised concerns about transparency and accountability in Defence after the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit ended production of its ‘Major Projects Report’.
Alarms began for industry after the end of the Defence and Australian National Audit Office report was announced earlier this month on March 6, closing the report’s duration since 2008.
“For the past eighteen years, the Committee has scrutinised Defence acquisition governance and performance through the Major Projects Report, prepared by the Department of Defence and the Australian National Audit Office at the request of the Parliament,” according to a public statement.
“The Committee has observed a steady reduction in the number of projects that can be reported on publicly through the Major Projects Report. As more capability programs become highly classified, the ability of the Parliament and the public to scrutinise major Defence acquisitions through a single consolidated report has been progressively constrained.
“This trend has reinforced the need to adapt the Committee's approach to oversight to ensure meaningful scrutiny of Defence expenditures continues, even as the nature of the information involved becomes more sensitive.
“The Committee has resolved not to request the Department of Defence and Australian National Audit Office continue to produce the Major Projects Report. However, maintaining scrutiny of Defence acquisition governance and performance by the Parliament remains imperative.
“The Committee will transition to a process where it examines in greater detail the Auditor- General's performance audits in the Defence portfolio. The Committee will also decide in the coming months on a structured and robust program of scrutiny that will require Defence to furnish information to the Committee for its examination.
“When established, the Committee expects to work with the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence to ensure appropriate scrutiny of the Defence portfolio continues to occur. As a statutory committee, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has wide ranging powers to self-refer inquiries and will make use of its powers and authorities to ensure there remains accountability for what are very significant public expenditures.”
Critics of the move have asserted that Defence acquisition projects have often attracted high cost and schedule blowouts without public scrutiny.
Defence and strategic policy analyst Marcus Hellyer, speaking publicly, said the move was the ‘end of transparency and accountability in Australia's Department of Defence’.
“Ministers and senior Defence officials will be glad that their poor performance will now go unreported and unremarked. But Australian taxpayers will be the losers as they will have no way to know whether the military capabilities they are paying for are being delivered on time and budget or indeed whether they are being delivered at all,” he said.
“This follows the establishment of the new Joint Standing Committee on Defence which will meet in camera and will have no representation from the minor parties. This will allow the Government and Defence to refuse to answer any awkward questions at Senate estimates and refer them to the JSCD behind closed doors.
“In opposition Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles talked a good game on transparency and accountability. In government, however, they are even worse than their predecessors. These two measures represent the final nail in the coffin of transparency and accountability.”
