Chapter 1

[1]        As a matter of comity between the Houses of Parliament, neither House inquires into the operations of the other House. For this reason, neither the annual report of, nor the proposed expenditure for, the Department of the House of Representatives is referred to a Senate committee for review.

[2]        Journals of the Senate, No. 2, 31 August 2016, pp. 75–76.

[3]        Department of Finance, Enhanced Commonwealth Performance Framework, Discussion Paper, August 2014, p. 5; Department of Finance, Resource Management Guide No. 135,  Annual reports for non-corporate Commonwealth entities, July 2016, p. 5, http://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/RMG-001%20-%20CRM%20Framework%20Companion.pdf (accessed 16 April 2018); Department of Finance, Resource Management Guide No. 136, Annual reports for corporate Commonwealth entities, July 2016, p. 4, htpp://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/RMG-136_Annual_reports_for_corporates.pdf (accessed 16 April 2018).

[4]        Department of Finance, Resource Management Guide No. 130, Overview of the enhanced Commonwealth performance framework, July 2016, p. 7, https://www.finance.gov.au/resource-management/performance/ (accessed 16 April 2018).

[5]        An entity that is legally and financially part of the Commonwealth, and includes departments of state, parliamentary departments, statutory authorities, and listed entities (a body, person, group of persons or organisation that is prescribed by rules made under the PGPA Act).

[6]        A body corporate, that has a separate legal personality from the Commonwealth, and includes statutory authorities. It can act in its own right exercising certain legal rights such as entering into contracts and owning property.

[7]        A company established by the Commonwealth under the Corporations Act 2001 that is wholly controlled by the Commonwealth.

[8]        For example, some Acts that establish statutory bodies have separate reporting requirements under those Acts. For example, section 17 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 prescribes specific reporting requirements for the Australian Electoral Commission.

[9]        Senate Hansard, 8 December 1987, pp. 2632–45.

[10]      Department of Finance, Managing performance, http://www.finance.gov.au/resource-management/performance/ (accessed 18 April 2018).

[11]      Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth), s. 46.

[12]      Department of Finance, Resource Management Guide No. 135,  Annual reports for
non-corporate Commonwealth entities, July 2016, p. 8, http://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/RMG-001%20-%20CRM%20Framework%20Companion.pdf (accessed 16 April 2018); Department of Finance, Resource Management Guide No. 136, Annual reports for corporate Commonwealth entities, July 2016, p. 7, htpp://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/RMG-136_Annual_reports_for_corporates.pdf (accessed 16 April 2018).

[13]      Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule, s. 17AB, 17BC and 28C.

[14]      Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Guidelines for the Presentation of Documents to the Parliament (including Government Documents, Government Responses to Committee Reports, Ministerial Statements, Annual Reports and other Instruments), February 2017, 
pp. 4–5.

[15]      Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Guidelines for the Presentation of Documents to the Parliament (including Government Documents, Government Responses to Committee Reports, Ministerial Statements, Annual Reports and other Instruments), February 2017, 
pp.4–5 (accessed 19 April 2018).

Chapter 2 - Review of selected reports

[1]        Journals of the Senate, No. 80, 5 February 2018, p. 2541.

[2]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 12.

[3]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 12.

[4]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 85. The Corporate Plan 2017-20 (covering the period 2017-18 to 2020-21) is available at: https://www.dta.gov.au/who-we-are/corporate/plan-2017-20/ (accessed 3 September 2018).

[5]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, pp. 2–6; 17–18; Administrative Arrangements Order, Amendment made 27 October 2016, part 15, available at: https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/aao-amendment-27-oct-2016.pdf (accessed 24 July 2018).

[6]        Budget 2016-17, Portfolio Budget Statements 2016-17 Budget Related Paper No. 1.14: Prime Minister and Cabinet Portfolio, p. 133.

[7]        Budget 2016-17, Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2016-17: Prime Minister and Cabinet Portfolio, pp. 51-52.

[8]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 85.

[9]        Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 85.

[10]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, pp. 85, 91 and 92.

[11]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 92.

[12]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 95.

[13]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 42.

[14]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 42; 75.

[15]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 54.

[16]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 65.

[17]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 65.

[18]      Digital Transformation Office, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 60.

[19]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 33.

[20]      Digital Transformation Agency, Annual Report 2016–17, p. 33.

[21]      Journals of the Senate, No. 93, 27 March 2018, p. 2935.

[22]      Australian Political Exchange Council, Annual Report 2013–16, p. 3.

[23]      Australian Political Exchange Council, Annual Report 2013–16, p. 3.

[24]      See Australian Political Exchange Council, Annual Report 2013–16, pp. 4-5 and Australian Political Exchange Council website, Organisation of the Council, available at: https://www.polexchange.org.au/organisation-council (accessed 3 September 2018). Between the end of the reporting period and tabling of the report all members of the Council, with the exception of the Chair, had changed.

[25]      Australian Political Exchange Council, Annual Report 2013–16, p. 1.

[26]      Australian Political Exchange Council, Annual Report 2013–16, p. 119.

[27]      Journals of the Senate, No. 69, 14 November 2017, p. 2201.

[28]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 15.

[29]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Corporate Plan  2016–17, available at: http://www.tsra.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/8735/TSRA-2016-2017-Corporate-Plan-Final.PDF (accessed 24 July 2018).

[30]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 76.

[31]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 2–9.

[32]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 12.

[33]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 14.

[34]      Portfolio Budget Statements 2016–17, Prime Minister and Cabinet Portfolio, p. 283.

[35]      Torres Strait Regional Authority, Annual Report 2015–16, p. 143.

[36]      Journals of the Senate, No. 72, 27 November 2017, p. 2270.

[37]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Annual Report 2016-17, pp. 21–22.

[38]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Publications, available at: https://www.anindilyakwa.com.au/media/newsletters (accessed 31 August 2018).

[39]      Budget 2016-17, Portfolio Budget Statements 2016-17 Budget Related Paper No. 1.14: Prime Minister and Cabinet Portfolio, p. 8.

[40]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Annual Report 2016-17, p 17.

[41]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Annual Report 2016-17, pp 58-68.

[42]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Annual Report 2016-17, p 63.

[43]      Anindilyakwa Land Council, Annual Report 2016-17, p 53, 71.