A performance audit of the effectiveness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs designed and implemented by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) has found that it is too early to tell.
In his report Evaluating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs, Auditor-General Grant Hehir said that five years after introducing the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS), PM&C was still in the early stages of implementing an evaluation framework.
“The Department did not have a formal evaluation strategy or evaluation funding for the IAS for its first two years,” Mr Hehir said.
“(Its) implementation and management of the IAS evaluation framework is partially effective”.
He noted that PM&C had been the lead Agency for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs since 2013.
“With the introduction of the IAS in 2014, 27 programs were consolidated into five broad programs under a single outcome,” Mr Hehir said.
He said the audit was undertaken to provide assurance that the design and early implementation of the Department’s evaluation framework for the IAS had been effective.
‘There is strong interest from Parliament and the community in ensuring funding provided through government programs achieves intended outcomes,” Mr Hehir said.
He said following substantial delays, PM&C was now designing a framework that had the potential to support the achievement of the policy objectives.
“Oversight arrangements are developing, and evaluation advice provided to program area staff has been relevant and high quality,” he said.
“The Department has not developed a reliable methodology for measuring outcomes of the framework and its evaluation procedures are still being developed.”
Mr Hehir made three recommendations to which the Department agreed.
The Auditor-General’s report can be accessed online at this PS News link and his 57-page report downloaded from this link.
The audit team was Daniel Whyte, Lynette Tyrrell, David Lacy, Iain Gately, James Woodward and Deborah Jackson.
