Australian National Audit Office

Um, there is then the nested question there of, um, maintenance issues with the LHDs and the how well defense has actually managed that maintenance Um, and in particular things like, um, whether or not they've managed to transition from acquisition into sustainment properly.

Um, and the ANAO, um, Australian National Audit Office report, um, which from I think last year, um, was not exactly overly, um, positive on, uh, defense's, um, efforts at, uh, maintenance of these platforms.

Um, and then the final kind of even bigger, um, question, which this once again reheats, um, is around the idea that, um, and this has come from numerous different, um, sources that nobody, um, obviously coming out officially, but, um, the, the fact that it's repeatedly been said that, um, uh, sustainment budgets are being cut and cut and cut, um, in order to, um, free up money for new acquisitions across the defense portfolio.

Um, and this idea that we're kind of, um, giving up capability now in order to have jam later, um, is been a, um, or to do it a different way, we're trying to cut current capabilities to the bone in order to not invest properly in future capability, um, is a, been a perennial critique of the current, um, uh, defense, uh, current, current government approach.

I guess the third point is sustainment, which is where the Australian article focuses.

Yes, um, there is, um, very clear evidence of, uh, a naval sustainment funding issue.

In fact, um, uh, the Australian article references an ANAO report into LHD sustainment that you mentioned as well, uh, in mid-year last year.

Look, that is, um, uh, a fairly damning ANAO audit report, although most of them do tend to be, but, uh, that doesn't make it any better.

The Australian Signal Directorate's 2025 Commonwealth Cyber Security Posture Report found nearly four in five agencies had failed to meet the mandatory baseline for cyber security, blaming the ongoing presence of the outdated hardware across so many departments on the high cost of replacement.

The Australian National Audit Office has repeatedly highlighted systemic vulnerabilities across federal agencies and that relied on outdated legacy systems, agencies including the Australian Taxation Office, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Services Australia, which have faced more significant challenges in shifting away from their legacy systems.

ACSE head Stephanie Crow said artificial intelligence tools completely changed and sped up the world of online attacks.

She said the threat environment is changing in terms of the rate, scale and speed with which AI will enable malicious cyber adversaries to conduct activities against our networks and systems.

And because this was implemented quite rapidly, there were significant integrity and administrative challenges around the scheme.

The Australian National Audit Office subsequently examined the ATO's management of the risks associated with the rapid implementation, and there were also many examples and concerns about people using the money for discretionary spending.

Cars, televisions, consumer goods.

We've all read about it in the media.

A major government agency handed Accenture an extra $21 million for a problem-reading project despite the audit office finding that there were major issues with the original procurement process, Aussie tender documents have revealed.

Department of Defence staff approved five contract extensions, options or variations on Accenture's MyClearance contract, after the Australian National Audit Office published a review of the project in July 2024.

The biggest add-ons to the now $164 million contract were signed off in 2025 for $10.8 million and $7.3 million.

Users reported glitches, bad access, and delays when the whole-of-government security clearance platform was launched in late 2022, causing Labor MP Matt Thiesselwert and others to call for a review.

A comment buried deep in the Independent Auditor's 2025-26 annual report has pointed to a big issue for the Australian Public Service.

Self-reported implementation results can differ from the results of Australian National Audit Office audits is one way of saying that agencies have covered up weak action on audit findings.

The Audit Office found that of recommendations that agencies reported as action to date, 25% were partially implemented or not implemented at all.

Self-reported implementation data in the report published on Tuesday showed that federal agencies said that implemented 92% of the 2023-24 audit recommendations within 24 months, leaving about 20 idle.

is already incorrect and distorted and biased from an executive and I assume a governance team.

And we saw that at ANU, ANAO, the Australian National Audit Office was very dour in its analysis of ANU's use of financial data and misuse of financial data, I think we can see.

It happens in a lot of universities.

There is obviously a problem when the information going into these consulting firms is not accurate.

We think we've done everything we can to mitigate any of that risk.

The Australian National Audit Office found that Snowy Hydro failed to hold contractors to account, poorly monitored costs and didn't have a project schedule among its failures.

Do you agree with those criticisms? And if the Audit Office was to ask you about them today, what could you say has been done to correct them?

So the audit office found, I think there was five major findings.

Yeah.

Um, and by the way, the, the Australian National Audit Office, uh, the ANAO, has flagged, um, workforce management at Airservices a potential topic to look at in this financial year.

The ANAO says, "Shortfalls or mismatches in skills numbers or locations or resos- rostering of the Airservices workforce can materially affect the service continuity, cost efficiency, and safety assurance of air transportation." So that's one thing that's, that's come out about Airservices.

The other thing, um, and this was a, this was a hefty story, 'cause there was a, there was a lot in it, but, um, Airservices every month posts a, uh, a, a report into the Australian network, Australian Aviation Network.