Latest news with #OfficeoftheAuditor-General
Otago Daily Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Audit opinion ‘absurd'
The Gore District Council has received an adverse audit opinion for its long-term plan — a move labelled "absurd" by the district's mayor. The council said yesterday it received the adverse audit opinion for its decision to include water services ahead of Southern Water Done Well consultation outcomes, a step taken to ensure transparency and protect the integrity of the process. The 2025-34 long-term plan, scheduled for adoption today, includes the council's current in-house water services delivery model across the nine-year life of the plan. The Office of the Auditor-General had advised councils that if they were consulting on a preferred water services delivery option, under the government's Local Water Done Well legislation, that preferred option should be reflected in their long-term plans. Council chief executive Debbie Lascelles said the decision to include the current in-house water services model in the plan was based on legal advice and reflected the council's commitment to open and honest communication. "We made a deliberate choice to include water services in the long-term plan because to do otherwise would pre-empt the outcome of the Southern Water Done Well consultation and risk judicial review." She stressed the underlying financial information for the first two years of the plan was robust and based on the best information the council had available at the time. Gore District Mayor Ben Bell said the decision to retain water services in the plan had the unanimous support of elected members. "It's frankly absurd that the auditor-general is penalising us for being transparent with our community." — APL
The Advertiser
11-06-2025
- General
- The Advertiser
'Poor management': regulator in hot water over licences
In one of Australia's driest states, authorities are not monitoring how much water is being pumped from the ground or if it's taken legally, a report says. Western Australia's auditor-general found that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) was not enforcing the conditions on the more than 12,000 water licences. Often handed out for free, the licences allow more than four trillion litres of water to be extracted annually - enough to fill more than 1.7 million Olympic swimming pools. "DWER is not doing anywhere near enough to adequately protect our water resources, with compliance activities in recent years reactive and ad hoc," Auditor-General Caroline Spencer said. "Poor management, over extraction and illegal taking of water all threaten the long-term sustainability of our groundwater supplies and create an uneven playing field for operators who are doing the right thing." The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, said the department's compliance checking activities have decreased over the past three years. Most are desktop reviews of unverified meter readings, with information reported by licence holders. On-the-ground inspections decreased by 67 per cent during the audit period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024, weakening the department's understanding of compliance. "Only five per cent of licence holders were visited in that time (and) in 2023-24, half of the regions saw no inspections all," Ms Spencer said. There is also no effective deterrence of future non-compliance because they are not prioritised for investigation. It's the third report by the Office of the Auditor-General that has found issues with the planning and monitoring of water use in WA. During the three years of the reporting period, 87 per cent of potential incidents of non-compliance were never assigned to a staff member to investigate. There was also no effective guidance to help staff assess the severity or impact of non-compliance. The report said this risked inconsistent outcomes or ineffective enforcement options. "(The regulator) needs to improve its enforcement approach, including more timely actions to address potential incidents of non-compliance and to better deal with and deter future breaches," Ms Spencer said. The department accepted the report findings and said it had improved its water compliance and enforcement functions "Since June 2024, there has been an increase in enforcement activity, including the issuing of daily penalty notices, which has resulted in a significant fine for water assurance enforcement activities in the current financial year," it said. The opposition accused the government of negligence. "This is a staggering failure of oversight ... the government has no idea whether it's being used lawfully or sustainably," water spokesman Peter Rundle said. In one of Australia's driest states, authorities are not monitoring how much water is being pumped from the ground or if it's taken legally, a report says. Western Australia's auditor-general found that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) was not enforcing the conditions on the more than 12,000 water licences. Often handed out for free, the licences allow more than four trillion litres of water to be extracted annually - enough to fill more than 1.7 million Olympic swimming pools. "DWER is not doing anywhere near enough to adequately protect our water resources, with compliance activities in recent years reactive and ad hoc," Auditor-General Caroline Spencer said. "Poor management, over extraction and illegal taking of water all threaten the long-term sustainability of our groundwater supplies and create an uneven playing field for operators who are doing the right thing." The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, said the department's compliance checking activities have decreased over the past three years. Most are desktop reviews of unverified meter readings, with information reported by licence holders. On-the-ground inspections decreased by 67 per cent during the audit period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024, weakening the department's understanding of compliance. "Only five per cent of licence holders were visited in that time (and) in 2023-24, half of the regions saw no inspections all," Ms Spencer said. There is also no effective deterrence of future non-compliance because they are not prioritised for investigation. It's the third report by the Office of the Auditor-General that has found issues with the planning and monitoring of water use in WA. During the three years of the reporting period, 87 per cent of potential incidents of non-compliance were never assigned to a staff member to investigate. There was also no effective guidance to help staff assess the severity or impact of non-compliance. The report said this risked inconsistent outcomes or ineffective enforcement options. "(The regulator) needs to improve its enforcement approach, including more timely actions to address potential incidents of non-compliance and to better deal with and deter future breaches," Ms Spencer said. The department accepted the report findings and said it had improved its water compliance and enforcement functions "Since June 2024, there has been an increase in enforcement activity, including the issuing of daily penalty notices, which has resulted in a significant fine for water assurance enforcement activities in the current financial year," it said. The opposition accused the government of negligence. "This is a staggering failure of oversight ... the government has no idea whether it's being used lawfully or sustainably," water spokesman Peter Rundle said. In one of Australia's driest states, authorities are not monitoring how much water is being pumped from the ground or if it's taken legally, a report says. Western Australia's auditor-general found that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) was not enforcing the conditions on the more than 12,000 water licences. Often handed out for free, the licences allow more than four trillion litres of water to be extracted annually - enough to fill more than 1.7 million Olympic swimming pools. "DWER is not doing anywhere near enough to adequately protect our water resources, with compliance activities in recent years reactive and ad hoc," Auditor-General Caroline Spencer said. "Poor management, over extraction and illegal taking of water all threaten the long-term sustainability of our groundwater supplies and create an uneven playing field for operators who are doing the right thing." The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, said the department's compliance checking activities have decreased over the past three years. Most are desktop reviews of unverified meter readings, with information reported by licence holders. On-the-ground inspections decreased by 67 per cent during the audit period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024, weakening the department's understanding of compliance. "Only five per cent of licence holders were visited in that time (and) in 2023-24, half of the regions saw no inspections all," Ms Spencer said. There is also no effective deterrence of future non-compliance because they are not prioritised for investigation. It's the third report by the Office of the Auditor-General that has found issues with the planning and monitoring of water use in WA. During the three years of the reporting period, 87 per cent of potential incidents of non-compliance were never assigned to a staff member to investigate. There was also no effective guidance to help staff assess the severity or impact of non-compliance. The report said this risked inconsistent outcomes or ineffective enforcement options. "(The regulator) needs to improve its enforcement approach, including more timely actions to address potential incidents of non-compliance and to better deal with and deter future breaches," Ms Spencer said. The department accepted the report findings and said it had improved its water compliance and enforcement functions "Since June 2024, there has been an increase in enforcement activity, including the issuing of daily penalty notices, which has resulted in a significant fine for water assurance enforcement activities in the current financial year," it said. The opposition accused the government of negligence. "This is a staggering failure of oversight ... the government has no idea whether it's being used lawfully or sustainably," water spokesman Peter Rundle said. In one of Australia's driest states, authorities are not monitoring how much water is being pumped from the ground or if it's taken legally, a report says. Western Australia's auditor-general found that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) was not enforcing the conditions on the more than 12,000 water licences. Often handed out for free, the licences allow more than four trillion litres of water to be extracted annually - enough to fill more than 1.7 million Olympic swimming pools. "DWER is not doing anywhere near enough to adequately protect our water resources, with compliance activities in recent years reactive and ad hoc," Auditor-General Caroline Spencer said. "Poor management, over extraction and illegal taking of water all threaten the long-term sustainability of our groundwater supplies and create an uneven playing field for operators who are doing the right thing." The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, said the department's compliance checking activities have decreased over the past three years. Most are desktop reviews of unverified meter readings, with information reported by licence holders. On-the-ground inspections decreased by 67 per cent during the audit period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024, weakening the department's understanding of compliance. "Only five per cent of licence holders were visited in that time (and) in 2023-24, half of the regions saw no inspections all," Ms Spencer said. There is also no effective deterrence of future non-compliance because they are not prioritised for investigation. It's the third report by the Office of the Auditor-General that has found issues with the planning and monitoring of water use in WA. During the three years of the reporting period, 87 per cent of potential incidents of non-compliance were never assigned to a staff member to investigate. There was also no effective guidance to help staff assess the severity or impact of non-compliance. The report said this risked inconsistent outcomes or ineffective enforcement options. "(The regulator) needs to improve its enforcement approach, including more timely actions to address potential incidents of non-compliance and to better deal with and deter future breaches," Ms Spencer said. The department accepted the report findings and said it had improved its water compliance and enforcement functions "Since June 2024, there has been an increase in enforcement activity, including the issuing of daily penalty notices, which has resulted in a significant fine for water assurance enforcement activities in the current financial year," it said. The opposition accused the government of negligence. "This is a staggering failure of oversight ... the government has no idea whether it's being used lawfully or sustainably," water spokesman Peter Rundle said.
1News
29-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
Almost $365,000 misappropriated by one person at Dunedin school
A Dunedin high school has revealed close to $365,000 was misappropriated by one person over five years. Logan Park High School emailed parents on Thursday "in the interests of transparency" after an external accountant first discovered the missing funds last year. It happened between 2019 and 2024. The school's board of trustees said it was an isolated incident involving one individual and a thorough review had been conducted. "It's important to note that this matter has now been fully resolved, and we want to share the outcome with our whānau to reassure you that, moving forward, our systems and processes are robust," the board said. ADVERTISEMENT The misappropriated funds had been full recovered along with legal and accounting costs, but the board said it had to wait until after the investigation and audit were completed before disclosing what happened to ensure due process was followed. The audit process had recently been signed off and the total amount of $364,884 (GST inclusive) was published in the 2023 full Annual Report. The board acknowledged the news might come as a surprise, but said the Office of the Auditor-General has been consulted and the financial risk to the school as a result of this issue had been eliminated. "After uncovering the issue, we identified necessary improvements and changes to our processes, which were implemented immediately in 2024 to strengthen our internal policies and ensure that this won't happen again," the board said. "This includes third-party professional support." The board thanked its staff for their willingness to assist, saying their cooperation had been invaluable in helping it to resolve the matter and strengthen the school's financial safeguards. "We have fully cooperated with the audit process throughout and remain committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in our school's financial management," the board said. ADVERTISEMENT "The school has remained in a stable and secure financial position throughout this period." The Ministry of Education's Acting Hautū Te Tai Runga, Andrea Williams, said the ministry was aware of the matter and would be working with the school to better understand the processes they followed. Police would not confirm if they were involved.
West Australian
26-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Shire of Dardanup recognised as a best practice entity in financial reporting for second year running
For the second consecutive year, the Shire of Dardanup has been recognised as a best practice entity in financial reporting by the Office of the Auditor-General. The accolade — awarded for work during the the 2023-24 financial year — comes from the OAG's annual Local Government Financial Audit Results report, which reviewed the financial reporting practices of 135 local governments across WA. The Shire of Dardanup was one of 19 local governments recognised for financial reporting, and the only one in the South West. The criteria for a best practice entity includes the timelessness of a chief executive-certified financial report, the quality of financial report, the quality of working papers supporting the report and the management resolution of accounting matters. It also includes the availability of key staff during the audit, the number and significance of management letter findings and the achievement of a clear audit opinion. Shire president Tyrrell Gardiner said the significant achievement highlighted the shire's continued excellence in financial management that reflects the 'professionalism, integrity and dedication of the entire organisation'. 'To be recognised as a best practice entity for a second year in a row is a big deal — it reflects our organisation's consistent commitment to the highest standards of financial governance,' he said. 'This outcome is not just a win for our finance and governance team, but for our entire shire. It's a shared success that every staff member and community stakeholder can be proud of.'
