Tourism Australia staff fear an audit report being released on Monday will be a bad look for the agency, sources have told Crikey.
Two sources with insight into the Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO) inspection of the agency said the report was expected to be critical.
A note on the auditor’s website said the goal was to “assess … Tourism Australia’s procurement and contract management activities”. According to one of Crikey’s sources, the audit was expected to be critical of both.
“It sounds like it’s pretty damning,” the person said.
The auditor, which Crikey understands has been looking at Tourism Australia since at least February this year, wrote on its website it would seek to find out whether the agency was “complying with the Commonwealth procurement rules and demonstrating the achievement of value for money”. It wasn’t clear exactly what the findings were, and the ANAO declined to comment.
When Crikey last asked for a status update on the audit in September, the ANAO said it could not provide any information beyond what was available on its website.
The audit report is not the only thing staff are worried about. There is also an Australian Federal Police investigation into the agency, opened after Tourism Australia made a police referral about a trio of employees who had gone on public holidays using taxpayer money. As of Friday, there was no indication that investigation had been concluded.
As first revealed by Crikey in April, Tourism Australia fired a senior employee and two of their China-based colleagues last year for blowing $137,441 of taxpayer money on the trips. The money was later paid back.
A Tourism Australia spokesperson declined to comment.
Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
