employee of Parliament. Removing an unsatisfactory Auditor General would involve a difficult judicial process.
Another recommendation from
previous seminars – that the PAC con- sider the budget of the Auditor General – has yet to be fully imple- mented, although the Ghanaian dele- gation reported that informal consulta- tions have begun between the PAC Chairman and other senior committee Members and the House leadership. A further resource-related recom-
mendation, allowing the Auditor General to charge a fee for certain services, has been discussed but it poses constitutional problems. The problem of the PAC falling behind in its consideration of audit reports, a common problem for under-resourced committees, is being resolved, thanks partly to the PAC beginning to use subcommittees. Looking ahead, the Ghanaian delegation agreed that more work remains to be done to implement some of the outstanding recommen- dations, particularly those related to obtaining more
resources.An evalu- ation would also be undertaken of the first public hearing to identify ways to improve the process for future hearings. Improving the time- liness of reporting, conducting more performance audits and empowering the PAC to do independent investi- gations were also suggested.
Targets for Papua New Guinea and Bougainville The 14-Member PAC in Papua New Guinea has the authority to initiate its own investigations, but its delegation reported that most of its work tracks reports from the Auditor General. Its inquiries are open to the pub-
lic, are often held in the provinces when necessary and are regularly attended by senior government offi- cers, prosecutors, the police and the
media.The committee is able to report misdeeds to the public prose- cutor or to the Ombudsman in cases of allegations against those covered by the country’s leadership code. While an understanding with the
Clerk’s office reportedly ensures the PAC has adequate resources, and Members are diligent in attending meetings, PAC reports are not yet debated in Parliament and audit reports are four years late. The seminar was told there are plans to seek formal PAC approval for the budget and work plans of the Auditor General, and to increase the frequency of PAC meetings. More professional staff were also needed to support the PAC, possibly through the secondment of officers to the PAC’s investigations. A need to prioritize inquiries
was also identified. Ongoing chal- lenges were the continued appoint- ment of competent and committed Members to the PAC and securing
MINISTERIAL PREPARATIONS FOR A PAEC INQUIRY HON. JOHN PANDAZOPOULOS, MP, VICTORIA
All Victorian government ministries, including the Premier’s Office, appear before the Victorian Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) each year. They begin preparations three months in advance of an appearance. Using the previous year’s briefing paper as a starting point, the ministry updates the paper to take account of developments and any relevant commitments or other statements or new policies issued by the Minister or the government since the last appearance. The ministry spends the first two months preparing information before it begins meetings with the Minister’s staff a month before the appearance. The ministry and the Minister’s staff prepare answers to all the possible questions the Minister may be asked, taking into account questions asked previously, the known interests of individual PAEC Members and matters raised by the Auditor- General.
The briefing process seeks to identify the good news that could come out of the appearance, and drafts positive questions to be offered to government PAEC Members. These are not all used as Members usually have their own questions. The Minister begins his or her briefing one week before the appearance. The briefing provides the Minister with an excep- tionally high level of knowledge about his or her ministry, often more than the responsible civil servants. Depending of the performance of the ministry during the year and the report of the Auditor-General, the briefing process will seek to identify ways to make either positive headlines or no news at all.
346 The Parliamentarian 2008/Issue Four
the attendance of all Members at all meetings. Papua New Guinea’s autonomous
region of Bougainville had established a PAC in its Assembly and an Auditor General’s office had been set up. Its first inquiry, into the appointment of a construction contractor who seemed to be incapable of doing the work awarded to him, had lead to a report to Parliament which needed to be followed up with the government. A good working relationship with
the Auditor General of Papua New Guinea would be beneficial, said Members from Bougainville.
Nigerian backlog Members from the Senate and House of Representatives reported that the Nigerian PACs from each House undertake separate investigations but they consult with each other so they don’t duplicate their inquiries or work at cross-purposes.However, the com- mittees were still working through reports from five years before. More performance auditing was
now being done and a new Audit Act, including more funding for PAC staff, had been enacted but had yet to come into force. Induction work- shops had begun for PAC Members following the April 2007 election, and the size of the House of Representatives PAC had been reduced to a more workable 18 Members from 44.
Looking Beyond Corruption
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