Investigations into the spending of Victorian taxpayer money are being hampered because of the refusal of successive state governments to grant the funding and powers required to scrutinise spending, the state auditor general has said.
Tabling his annual plan to the state parliament on Wednesday, John Doyle called on the government to change audit legislation to allow his department to “follow the dollar” and see where money was being wasted.
“I can not fully audit public money provided by the Victorian government to not-for-profit or for-profit organisations delivering government services,” Doyle told the parliament.
“Several other Australian jurisdictions have amended their audit legislation in recent years to provide follow-the-dollar powers. Victoria has been a leader in public auditing — but now lags well behind.”
The scrapped East West Link toll road, bullying in the health sector, the risks and impacts of unconventional gas, and the system of releasing prisoners into parole were all flagged in the annual report to come under the department’s scrutiny over the next financial year.
But previous investigations into transport spending and state prisons had been hampered because of insufficient powers of the department to request information they needed, the report warned.
“Tendering of metropolitan bus contracts audit could not verify the data reported by the metropolitan private sector bus operators about their performance,” the report said.
“Our October 2013 prevention and management of drug use in prisons audit did not review two of the prisons with the highest risk for drug issues because we could not compel the private prison to grant us access to their documents.”
But a government spokeswoman said the funding for the auditor general’s department was comparable to that of other states.
The government was committed to introducing follow-the-money powers, she said, but did not say when. “A legislative review of the Audit Act 1994 will commence in due course,” she said.
As an independent officer of parliament, Doyle and his staff will conduct their investigations over the next financial year on behalf of parliament and Victorian taxpayers, and without interference or direction from politicians. The annual plan is the department’s key accountability document.
“We’re looking at the things that are important to Victorians,” he said. “We’re looking into the things that are actually going to make a difference to the way the government delivers services within Victoria, not only over the next few years but for future generations.”
These included the East West Link, a $6.8bn, 18km road project signed on to by the previous Coalition government but then scrapped by the Labor premier, Daniel Andrews, upon his election in November last year.
This month Andrews said the final cost to Victorian taxpayers of abolishing the project was $420m.
The controversial project was described by supporters as critical to tackling congestion on state roads and to providing jobs, while opponents said there was a lack of transparency around spending on the project and that cheaper transport alternatives should be considered.
“The East West Link has obviously had a lot of publicity in the past,” Doyle said. “We’re not marching to the tune of that publicity, what we’re doing is actually doing an analysis as auditors about why the situation occurred, what the response was by the current government and ultimately, what the cost has been to Victorians and the public purse.”
