Audit Commissions

The Abbott Government has announced a National Commission of Audit to review the Commonwealth's finances and to assess the role and scope of government and where areas of overlap and duplication between the federal and state governments can be reduced. It is the fourteenth audit commission appointed in Australia since the NSW Greiner Coalition Government formed the first commission in 1988. Since then audit commissions have become a feature of incoming, mostly non-Labor state, territory and national governments. Audit commissions have heralded major changes in the structure of public services, cuts to government spending, new ways of delivering services and a re-writing of the very boundaries of government. They have been hailed by some as mechanisms for promoting overdue reform and for pushing through needed change. Critics have seen them as being ideologically driven, touting outdated remedies and being used by governments to justify decisions already made about cuts to public services. Yet despite their repeated use for over a quarter of century, and the claims and counter claims about their roles and value, there has been no comparative study of audit commissions in Australian politics and policy. Audit Commissions: Reviewing the Reviewers is the first comprehensive assessment of all fourteen state, territory and federal audit commissions established since 1988. That audit commissions are a particular Australian institution makes this study of value to both Australian and international audiences. The volume outlines the history, reasons for appointment, roles, processes, members, impact and suggests where audit commissions fit in the overall architecture of Australian government. Kate Jones is Research Fellow at ACU's Public Policy Institute, with qualifications in politics, economics and librarianship. After researching and writing about parliaments, parliamentary committees and parliamentarians, Kate has focussed in her recent research on aspects of public and social policy. She has also worked for state and federal governments and in two parliaments. Kate gained her PhD from La Trobe University. Scott Prasser was the inaugural Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute at ACU and previously worked in senior policy and research positions in federal and state governments. He has written extensively on Australian public policy and politics and in 2006 had published Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries in Australia. Scott's PhD was awarded by Griffith University.