A performance audit into the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) financial disclosure scheme has found management of the scheme to be only partially effective.
In his report, Administration of Financial Disclosure Requirements under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, Auditor-General Grant Hehir said the purpose of the AEC’s financial disclosure scheme is to preserve the integrity of the national electoral system, maintain public confidence in the electoral process, and reduce the potential for undue influence and corruption.
“The AEC‘s management of the financial disclosures required under Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is partially effective,” Mr Hehir said.
“The arrangements that the AEC has in place to administer the financial disclosure scheme are limited in their effectiveness,” he said.
“Compliance monitoring and enforcement activities are partially effective with the result that the AEC is not well placed to provide assurance that disclosure returns are accurate and complete.”
Mr Hehir said disclosure returns were required from political parties, associated entities, political campaigners, third parties, donors, election candidates and Senate groups.
“Not all required returns have been obtained, there is limited analysis of the returns that are obtained and evidence that some returns are incomplete,” he said.
“The number of compliance reviews, and the resources allocated to them, have declined considerably over time.”
Mr Hehir said that across the four financial years examined by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), spanning two federal elections and 11 by-elections, 5,882 returns were obtained by the AEC and 75 returns had not been obtained.
“Seventy-eight per cent of returns reviewed by the AEC across the five-year period examined by the ANAO required amendment,” Mr Hehir said.
“Thirty-five per cent of planned compliance reviews were either not undertaken, or not completed.”
The Auditor-General’s report can be accessed online at this PS News link and his 85-page printed report at this link.
The audit team was Joyce Knight, Cherise Reed, David van Schoten, Josh Carruthers, Irena Korenevski and Brian Boyd.
