An audit of Government advertising between 2015 and April of this year has prompted the Auditor-General to recommend that the safeguards against it being used for political purposes be revisited.
In his audit, Government Advertising: June 2015 to April 2019, Auditor-General, Grant Hehir examined three advertising campaigns, assessing how closely they followed five principles set out in a guidance framework.
“The audit has been conducted in a context where …. there has been a general weakening of the framework over time,” Mr Hehir said.
He said the framework was in place to provide the Parliament and the community with confidence that public funds were used to meet the genuine information needs of the community and not be conducted for party political purposes.
The audit found that between 2010-11 and 2017-18, average Australian Government expenditure each financial year on advertising campaigns was $210 million.
“The problem with Government advertising arises when the distinction between legitimate Government advertising for public policy purposes and political advertising for partisan advantage is blurred,” Mr Hehir said.
“The problem arises when Governments use taxpayer funds to gain political advantage through partisan promotion of their views or themselves, rather than to meet the genuine information needs of citizens.”
He said the three campaigns selected for review were the Powering Forward campaign administered by the Department of the Environment and Energy; the Physical Activity for Young Women campaign administered by the Department of Health; and the National Child Care Plan campaign administered by the Department of Education and Training.
The Auditor-General found there was “scope for improvement’ in all the entities’ administrative practices relating to the three campaigns he examined.
“The persistence of debate over the use of public resources for certain Government campaigns indicates that the framework has not achieved its primary purpose of building confidence and is therefore ineffective in respect to this outcome,” Mr Hehir said.
“In these circumstances, there would be merit in the Parliament and Australian Government revisiting the framework.”
He made four recommendations which were either noted or partially agreed to.
The Auditor-General’s full online report can be accessed at this PS News link and his 101-page printed report can be accessed at this link.
The audit team was Meegan Reinhard, Natalie Maras, Ashton Barrington-Knight and Michelle Page.
