Terms of reference

On 9 March 2023, having considered recently tabled Auditor-General's reports, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit resolved to conduct an inquiry into any matters contained in and associated with Auditor-General Report No 13 2022–23: the ANAO’s 2021‑2022 performance statements audits of the following entities – the Attorney-General’s Department, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and the Department of the Treasury.

Under section 8(1) of the legislation establishing the JCPAA, the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951, one of the duties of the Committee is to ‘examine all reports of the Auditor-General (including reports of the results of performance audits) that are tabled in each House of the Parliament’ and ‘report to both Houses of the Parliament, with any comment it thinks fit, on any items or matters in those reports, or any circumstances connected with them, that the Committee thinks should be drawn to the attention of the Parliament’.