2.1
The committee was referred the 2019–20 annual reports of the following Commonwealth entities for examination and report:
Department of Social Services; and
2.2
The committee considers that annual reports of these Commonwealth departments are of an apparently satisfactory standard.
Department of Health
Secretary's review
2.3
Secretary of the Department of Health (DoH), Dr Brendan Murphy, highlighted ongoing projects of DoH and how it responded to various challenges over the 2019-20, specifically COVID-19. These key areas of work included:
redeployment of staff to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to aged care and disability providers;
provided $734.2 million to Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to deliver mental health services;
ongoing consultation on the department’s mental health strategy, due for implementation in 2020-21;
continuing to reform the aged care system and contributing to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety;
use of the national incident room in 2019-20 for, the measles outbreak in Samoa, health response to the bushfires, medical retrieval and repatriation following the Whakaari/White Island volcano eruption and responding to COVID-19;
in response to the bushfires over 3.5 million P2 respirators were released from the medical stockpile; and
due to COVID-10, delivered whole-of-population access to telehealth services; as of June 2020, 17 million services had been provided.
Chief Medical Officer's report
2.4
The Acting Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, reported on the health emergencies faced in 2019-20:
During 2019-20, Australia, along with the rest of the world, faced extraordinary health emergency challenges. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department’s National Incident Room (NIR) has responded to the largest number of consecutive and concurrent incidents in a 12 month period since the Department was formed in 1921.
2.5
Professor Kelly noted that in response to COVID-19, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) released its first Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus on the 18 February 2020. The plan continues to guide Australian’s health response. The government’s response to the pandemic has been a coordinated and evidenced based approach, informed by the latest medical advice from AHPPC. The spread of COVID-19 required a cross-sector and multi-jurisdictional response to control cases in the community.
2.6
Professor Kelly also commented on DoH's work in the following areas:
new funding for research into the health impacts of bushfire smoke;
importance of maintaining and strengthening Australia's preparedness to respond to global health emergencies;
increased demand for influenza immunisation;
reducing the incidence of blood borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections; and
continuing work with the National Dust Disease Taskforce to develop a national coordinated approach to identify, control and manage occupational dust diseases in Australia.
Performance reporting
2.7
DoH's purpose as outlined in its corporate plan is:
With our partners, support the Government to lead and shape Australia’s health and aged care system and sporting outcomes through evidence-based policy, well targeted programs, and best practice regulation.
2.8
DoH in 2019-20 continued to use six outcomes to measure and report its performance against. The department met the majority of its 2019-20 targets, as follows:
Outcome 1: Health System Policy, Design and Innovation—all targets were met;
Outcome 2: Health Access and Support Services—five targets were met, two were substantially met, two were not met and four reported not having data available;
Outcome 3: Sport and Recreation—all three targets were met;
Outcome 4: Individual Health Benefits—twelve targets were met and three were substantially met;
Outcome 5: Regulation, Safety and Protection—seven targets were met and one target was substantially met; and
Outcome 6: Ageing and Aged Care—five targets met and two were substantially met.
2.9
The committee notes that four targets under outcome 2 were reported as not having data available. Two of these targets related to reporting participation levels in national cancer screening programs. The other two targets were regarding data on daily smokers and access to general practitioner care.
2.10
The committee understands the collection of data for these programs has fallen outside of the reporting timeframe for this annual report. The committee encourages DoH to include this information in its next annual report.
2.11
The committee also notes that only data up to 2018 was provided for chronic disease related mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is the same data that has not been provided in DoH's last two annual reports. DoH provided the following reasoning for delays in reporting:
… in late 2019 and early 2020, the approach to calculating Indigenous and non-Indigenous mortality rates and related target trajectories was adjusted. This was a result of official statistics moving from 2011 Census-based population denominators to 2016 Census-based denominators, following the publication of Indigenous population projections and backcasts. Accordingly, the results for this criterion are not comparable to those previously published, and past chronic disease mortality rate results, and forward year targets, have been revised based on the new denominators.
2.12
The committee commends DoH on meeting 39 out of 53 (or 73.5 per cent) of its performance targets and appreciates the detailed explanations provided against each target, particularly where a target has not been met or where data was not available.
2.13
The committee commends the department on the inclusion of summary tables for each outcome; this provides a helpful snapshot of DoH's work for 2019–20. DoH's annual performance statements are clearly set out and easy to read.
Financial reporting
2.14
The 2019-20 Budget delivered $104 billion in overall investment for the health portfolio. Dr Murphy noted in the 'significantly revised budget cycle, the Government invested more than $16.5 billion into the COVID-19 health response'.
2.15
In 2019-20, DoH's total administered expenses were $73.4 billion. Of this, $48.6 billion (66.2 per cent) was for the payment of personal benefits, including medical services, pharmaceutical services and private health insurance rebates. Subsides, predominantly for aged care accounted for $13.4 billion (18.2 per cent) and grants expenditure was $9.2 billion (12.6 per cent) of the total administered expenses.
2.16
DoH recorded an operating surplus of $5.4 million and remains in a net asset position at 30 June 2020.
Consultants and contracts
2.17
In 2019-20, DoH awarded 525 new consultancy contracts at a total cost of $28.6 million. In comparison with the previous financial year, these figures show a decrease in the number of new contracts awarded by the department.
2.18
The committee notes that DoH exceeded its target of 78 new contracts with Indigenous businesses. DoH entered into 191 new contracts with Indigenous businesses, worth $67.6 million. This exceeded the DoH’s value based target of $8.5 million by $59.1 million. Of this amount, $40 million was attributed to entering a contract with Cole Workwear for personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2.19
Whilst not a mandatory requirement of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014, the committee encourages DoH to provide further information regarding its contracts, particularly given its highly variable year on year consultancy and contract expenditure.
2.20
In 2019-20, 95 contracts over $10,000 were exempt from publication on AusTender on the basis that publishing contract details would disclose exempt matters under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. This represents a decrease of 16 contracts from 2018-19, where 111 contracts were exempt from reporting.
2.21
The committee commends DoH on its annual report which provides a detailed overview of its activities and performance in 2019–20.
Department of Social Services
Secretary's review
2.22
The Secretary, Ms Kathryn Campbell AO, CSC, provided an overview of the Department of Social Services (DSS) response to events in 2019-20 and highlighted the following:
We oversaw the Government’s $50 million package to support bushfire-affected communities ... In March 2020, the JobSeeker Payment was introduced as the main payment for working age Australians, and is progressively consolidating seven existing income support payments. Together with the previous Newstart Allowance, $18.5 billion was provided to support Australians out of work in 2019–20. With the onset of COVID-19, we were also able to make a range of temporary changes to JobSeeker and related payments, including introducing the Coronavirus Supplement, to support over a million Australians who needed support quickly.
2.23
Ms Campbell also noted the following work of DSS:
new Carer Gateway introduced in April 2020 provided a range support services to carers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic;
ongoing review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 to look at how to simplify processes and improve the experience of people interacting with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS);
Victoria and Queensland entered into NDIS full scheme agreements;
funded advocacy support services to help people contribute to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability;
extra funding provided to support the National Redress Scheme;
continued implementation of the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010–2022;
managed the Help is Here campaign to assist Australians experiencing domestic violence find support services;
in response to the pandemic, additional funding of $150 million was provided to support the response to domestic and family violence;
ongoing management of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, providing almost $1.6 billion to state and territory governments to support housing and homelessness services; and
the passage of the Simplifying Income Reporting legislation, together with the Australian Taxation Office’s Single Touch Payroll will reduce income reporting errors and associated debts.
Performance reporting
2.24
As defined in its Corporate Plan, DSS' purpose is:
We work in partnership with government and non-government organisations to achieve our mission through the effective development, management and delivery of payments, policies, programs, and services.
2.25
In 2019-20, DSS continued to use four outcomes to measure its performance. DSS provided a summary and analysis of their performance against each outcome. The committee notes the following key results against each outcome:
Outcome 1: Social Security—the social security system demonstrated its ability to rapidly respond to the economic impacts of COVID-19, between March and April 2020, the number of income support recipients increased by 9.9 per cent from 5.0 million to 5.5 million;
Outcome 2: Families and Communities—delivered targeted services and initiatives under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022 (National Plan) and Third and Fourth Action Plans of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, worked with states and territories to boost frontline services throughout COVID-19;
Outcome 3: Disability and Carers— ongoing review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, including introducing a NDIS Participant Service Guarantee (the Guarantee). The Guarantee will set standards and timeframes for NDIA decision-making, with the NDIA committed to meeting the Guarantee from 1 July 2020; and
Outcome 4: Housing—delivered approximately $4.6 billion in Commonwealth Rent Assistance payments to help around 1.3 million individuals and families renting in the private market or living in community housing. It provided approximately $1.6 billion through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement to improve housing and homelessness outcomes across jurisdictions.
National Redress Scheme
2.26
Within DSS' report is an annual report on the operation of the National Redress Scheme (the Scheme), which was created in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Established on 1 July 2018, this is the schemes second year of operation and it will operate for 10 years.
2.27
In February 2020, National Redress Scheme Operations moved from Services Australia to become part of the Redress Group within the Department of Social Services.
2.28
Key statistics from its second year of operation, include:
3,127 people applied for the Scheme;
3,195 determinations were made – 3,059 people were assessed as eligible for redress – 136 applications were assessed as ineligible;
of the eligible applications, 929 institutions were found to be responsible across individual cases of abuse; and
2,537 redress payments were made ranging from less than $10,000 to $150,000, with an average payment of $81,876; and
the total value of redress monetary payments was $205,016,984.
2.29
The committee notes the significant increase in applications being finalised when compared to the 2018-19 report and appreciates the high level of detail provided by DSS.
Financial performance
2.30
DSS received $411.9 million in departmental funding in 2019–20 and was responsible for managing $140 billion in government expenditure.
2.31
DSS’ total administered expenses were $14.694 billion higher than the original budget estimates statements and this variance was attributed to the following:
an increase in recipients due to the COVID-19 economic impact;
personal benefit expenses also grew and this reflects the first payment of the $750 one-off Economic Stimulus Package and the $550 fortnightly coronavirus supplement payments;
grants expenses were also higher, including for the Disability Employment Services program and payments made under the COVID-19 Community Support Package; and
additional grants provided in relation to the bushfires which occurred during the 2020 financial year.
2.32
The committee considers the section of DSS' report entitled 'Managing our finances' to be clearly set out, and appreciates the inclusion of the financial resources table that indicates trends in departmental finances between financial years. However, the committee encourages DSS to include more discussion in this section in order to make the information in the table more accessible.
2.33
The committee appreciates DSS' detailed and comprehensive annual report, and considers that it meets the relevant reporting requirements.
Services Australia
2.34
As noted in Chapter 1 of this report, the Department of Human Services was renamed Services Australia following the Administrative Arrangements Order of 29 May 2019.
2.35
Services Australia's purpose is defined as 'delivering high-quality government services and payments to Australia'.
Secretary's review
2.36
Ms Rebecca Skinner, Secretary of Services noted in her summary of 2019-20:
We enter the new financial year with record low claims on hand, significantly enhanced online services and measurable improvements in our response times across multiple channels and all that despite an unprecedented surge in demand … Our role is to efficiently deliver high quality, accessible services and payments on behalf of government. We recognise that Australians are seeking more simple, helpful, respectful and transparent paths to that support.
2.37
Ms Skinner also noted Services Australia's work in responding to COVID-19:
We processed 1.3 million JobSeeker claims in 55 days, a claim volume normally processed in two and a half years. At the peak of demand, more than 53,000 claims were completed in a single day.
2.38
The Secretary highlighted the following work of Services Australia:
paid more than $5.6 billion in Coronavirus Supplements;
delivered $5.3 billion in Economic Support Payments;
processed more than 1.4 million JobSeeker Payment claims; and
increased a number of aged care subsidies and supplements, paying over $198 million as a one-off COVID-19 Support Supplement for residential aged care providers.
Performance reporting
2.39
Services Australia has one outcome:
Support individuals, families and communities to achieve greater self-sufficiency; through the delivery of advice and high quality accessible social, health and child support services and other payments; and support providers and businesses through convenient and efficient service delivery.
2.40
This outcome is delivered in three programs:
Program 1.1 - Services to the Community—Social Security and Welfare;
Program 1.2 - Services to the Community—Health; and
Program 1.3 - Child Support.
2.41
In 2019–20 the agency met 22 out of 30 of its annual performance targets, in comparison to 20 of 27 targets in 2018-19. The agency also introduced three new performance measures and listed them as 'no target', as it sought to use 2019–20 to establish a baseline for future results.
2.42
Five targets were recognised as not being met, two under program 1.1 and 1.3 and one under program 1.2. These related to not meeting customer satisfaction targets, claims processing and telephony service standards.
2.43
The committee appreciates Services Australia's transparent approach to performance reporting. Where targets were not met, the agency provided clear explanations regarding the result and the work being undertaken to improve on its performance.
2.44
The committee considers that including the performance measures from previous reporting years in the performance statement greatly enhances the usability of the annual report and encourages Services Australia to continue to include this information in future reports.
Financial reporting
2.45
In 2019–20, Services Australia received additional revenue of $521 million to increase the agency's capacity to respond to COVID-19. The total government revenue provided to the agency was $5.3 billion.
2.46
Services Australia administered $203.7 billion in payments. The agency reported an operating surplus of $346.86 million after 'adjusting for unfunded depreciation and amortisation expenses and principal lease payments, primarily due to unspent COVID-19 funding assets'.
2.47
The committee appreciates the level of detail provided by Services Australia in section 3.1 'Report of financial performance' and notes that it is clear and easy to follow.
2.48
The committee considers that Services Australia has produced an informative and clearly presented annual report which meets the required reporting standards.