The NSW Public Accounts Committee has begun a program of helping improve the financial performance of state agency operations by following up high priority recommendations by the NSW Auditor General, Mr Peter Achterstraat.
Chair of the Committee, Mr Jonathan O'Dea MP, announced that the Committee is seeking information from agencies that were the subject of high priority recommendations made in the Auditor-General's reports to Parliament in 2010 for at least the second time - "repeat recommendations".
"The Committee is aware that there were 74 of these repeat recommendations and finds it disappointing that the Auditor-General has needed to make the same recommendation in successive years.
"The Committee has chosen to follow up those that are considered of highest priority to the relevant agency and to the public sector as a whole. Some of these matters involve significant sums of money and management issues such as excessive reliance on contractors in certain agencies," said Mr O'Dea.
The Committee is seeking further information on 19 matters from 12 agencies prior to deciding whether to hold public hearings.
The Committee has also resolved to hold a public hearing to follow up issues raised in the performance audit of the Performance of Metropolitan Bus Services.
In addition, the Committee is close to commencing new inquiries into housing maintenance, economics of energy generation options and public sector procurement.
For more information about the Public Accounts Committee, please visit www.parliament.nsw.gov.au
