Latest news with #auditorGeneral
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Extra funding for health-care contract investigation approved
Edmonton Watch A provincial government committee approved extra funding for the auditor general's investigation into allegations of corruption in private health-care contracts.
ABC News
24-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Childcare subsidy program leaks hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud and errors
Australia's $14 billion childcare subsidy program is haemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars each year due to fraud, overpayments and administrative errors, according to a landmark report from the auditor-general. The report paints a disturbing picture of a system with serious oversight gaps and estimates more than $2.6 billion has been lost from incorrect payments in the five years to 2024. It describes oversight and governance of the subsidy program as "partly effective," and monitoring and enforcement as not being properly managed. The report notes that Services Australia was unable to track childcare-related tip-offs and relied on incomplete income data, while the Department of Education, despite holding broad enforcement powers, lacked clear policies on when or how to act. "Which means it is not able to assess whether decisions to take enforcement action are fair, impartial, consistent, or proportional," the report says. In 2023-24 alone, the auditor-general estimated $484 million in incorrect payments, including fraud and non-compliance. The education department identified but failed to investigate 970 potential overpayments, and it withdrew 42 per cent of fines issued, recovering less than 1 per cent of $6.4 million in outstanding debts. With the subsidy program worth more than $13 billion a year, experts warn the real losses could be much higher than reported. The childcare subsidy is one of the government's fastest growing payments programs, supporting 1.45 million children in approved care. By 2028, annual spending is set to surge by another $3.2 billion to almost $17 billion a year. Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh defended the government's record, saying Labor had delivered the highest provider claim accuracy rate on record at 96.4 per cent, up from 93 per cent before it came to government. More than $300 million in savings had already been delivered through fraud investigations, strengthened audits, better data analytics and legislative changes. "The government doesn't tolerate crooks ripping off the Child Care Subsidy. We will always look for ways to continue to improve the integrity of the system," Walsh said. "Our integrity measures have delivered additional provider audits, more fraud investigations, improved targeting through better data analytics as well as education and support to the sector." The minister confirmed the department had accepted all seven recommendations of the auditor-general's report, and urged the public to report wrongdoing via the department's anonymous tip-off portal. Those recommendations include fixing oversight gaps, strengthening internal policies, publishing a joint compliance strategy, improving intelligence on risks and tip-offs, and upgrading critical systems. And since the audit commenced, a joint governance board was established between Services Australia and the Department of Education to maintain strategic oversight of regulatory activities across both agencies. This will ensure both agencies have a joined up view of the integrity activity underway across the breadth of the subsidy, and provide senior oversight and decision making on key cross cutting issues. But as costs rise and private operators chase profits, some experts say it is time to do something more radical and change the funding model. It comes against a backdrop of a major ABC investigation into the $20 billion childcare industry which exposed a sector in crisis, plagued by systemic failures, secrecy and a rising number of serious incidents at some of the country's largest for-profit providers. It triggered a parliamentary inquiry in NSW, spearheaded by Greens politician Abigail Boyd, and the release of tens of thousands of pages of regulatory documents, which include cases of inappropriate discipline, lack of supervision, unqualified educators and poor paperwork including expired Working With Children Checks and a failure to understand policies. The documents also reveal alleged subsidy fraud including centres over-enrolling children by up to 40 per cent to claim extra funding — an illegal and dangerous practice. Childcare advocate and consultant Lisa Bryant said the report's findings came as no surprise, given the sheer scale and complexity of the subsidy system. "The childcare subsidy is mind-numbingly complex," she said. "It's beyond human understanding how the payments are calculated. Families don't understand how the money and hours are calculated and providers are also frustrated … it's no wonder money is going astray," she said. Bryant said a simpler solution would be to fund childcare providers directly, much like schools, instead of processing subsidies for more than a million families. "If the government paid providers directly, it would have a stronger policy lever," she said "It could link funding to service quality and stop the funding if they don't meet the standards." Bryant said the subsidies should be directed to the centres themselves, similar to how schools work, and if they don't provide quality services, the government has a lever to withdraw the funds. Georgie Dent, the chief executive of The Parenthood, a parent advocacy organisation representing more than 80,000 parents, carers and supporters, said the system's failures are costing children and families dearly. "When almost half a billion dollars is lost to fraud or incorrect payments in a single year, it's not just a technical glitch, it's a policy failure," she said. "This is public money intended to support children's development, family workforce participation and economic productivity. We cannot afford to have it fall through the cracks." Dent said the findings make the case for funding reform clear. "We need a direct and transparent link between funding and the quality, accessibility and integrity of early childhood education services," she said. "Strong governance, clear accountabilities and aligned incentives are not optional, they are the foundation of public trust and better outcomes for children." Greens MP Abigail Boyd said the auditor-general's report revealed a deeply flawed system where billions of taxpayer dollars were being handed to early learning providers without the proper compliance and regulatory systems in place. "It's no wonder that so many large for-profit companies view the Australian early childhood sector as such a lucrative investment," she said. Boyd warned that injecting more money into the current model won't fix its structural failures: "We need a significant overhaul to ensure that everyone can have faith in this critical sector." Chey Carter, former educator and now industry consultant at Divergent Education, says she isn't surprised there is so much leakage in the system. She says she spent time working with a Child Care System management provider and saw firsthand the mass level of confusion directors face when managing childcare subsidy payments. "The support line was flooded with basic questions, how to fix overcharging, apply CCS correctly, or reconcile enrolments. These weren't one-off mistakes; they were routine," she said. "To be eligible for CCS, providers must have fraud prevention policies and procedures in place but if we look at the policy from 'Childcare Desktop' a nationally used childcare policy provider — it states: 'staff will attend regular training to assist in the identification of fraud and corruption'. I can guarantee that the majority of the ECEC workforce have never attended such training." It seems without deeper reform including linking funding to quality and tightening accountability and oversight, the childcare system will continue to bleed public money while failing the children it's meant to serve.
The Herald
20-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Herald
Transport department ‘weighing' extending validity of driving licences
'The tender was awarded in August and in September we handed our investigation report to the minister, who passed it on to the auditor-general. 'In March this year, the minister announced that the [auditor-general's] investigation confirmed irregularities, and said she would go to court to overturn the tender award. We are waiting for clarity on the contract process,' said Fick. The department's Collen Msibi has confirmed the ministry received the letter from Outa and it is 'being processed internally for the minister's attention'. 'T he driving licence card agency of the department is also conducting a study of the financial implications on the extension of the validity period of driving licence cards,' Msibi said, on Outa's recommendation for an extended validity period. 'Motorists can drive with an expired card for up to three months before being eligible to be fined, provided they can show proof they applied for a new card before their current card expires.' 'If the card had expired at the time of application for a replacement, they must apply for a temporary driver's licence and keep proof thereof in the vehicle. 'A temporary driver's licence is valid for six months, or until the new or replacement card is issued.'
CBC
18-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Work to clean up contaminated former gold mine site to begin this year
Social Sharing Work to clean up one of the more contaminated former gold mining sites in Nova Scotia is on track to begin later this year, while work at a second site could get underway in 2026. Donnie Burke, senior director of the environmental group with Build Nova Scotia, told reporters on Wednesday that engagement with the community about the work in Montague Gold Mines, near Dartmouth, is expected within days. The project should then go to tender next month. "I'm quite confident that you'll see boots on the ground and construction happening in Montague this year," he said. Burke spoke following an appearance at the legislature's public accounts committee to discuss an auditor general's report on contaminated sites. Plans for the work were announced in 2018. Burke said it's taken so long to get to this point in part because of the size of the property to be cleaned up. "Some of these are maybe a city block and some of them are seven city blocks. So it's like anything in construction — the bigger it is, the longer it takes," he said. A containment cell about half a hectare in size will be constructed to blend into the natural area, said Burke. It will have capping material to prevent leakage. The work is expected to take up to three years, followed by long-term monitoring. Burke noted that the sites in question are frequented by people who hike or use ATVs in the area. "Some of these tailings have, like, 14 or 16 per cent arsenic in the tailings, so we want to make sure it's contained, confined and managed in a proper way that's environmentally friendly both to human health and ecological health." A similar approach is being used at a former mine site in Goldenville, near Sherbrooke. The process will take about the same amount of time, said Burke, but is about a year behind the Montague effort due to preliminary work that involved private property. The site measures between 500 and 600 hectares in overall area impacted over time by the former mine operation, he said. "So we had to put boots on the ground and look at the whole site because tailings would have been just let go by gravity and carried by stream," he said. Burke said First Nation consultation is ongoing for a third site, the former celestite mine in Lake Enon, in Cape Breton. When that is complete, the project will move to tender. Because the site is smaller, he said construction should only take about a year. The province has identified 68 former mine sites to be remediated. Cost estimates evaluated each year The most recent update in government financial figures puts the liability for the cleanup of all known contaminated sites in the province at about $600 million, more than half of which is related to the work slated to happen at Boat Harbour. The figure for abandoned mine sites is about $148 million, with the majority of that — $64.5 million — reserved for Goldenville and Montague. For the remainder, the estimated cost for work at sites rated as high risk is $5 million each, the budget for medium-risk sites is $500,000 and low-risk sites are pegged at $250,000 per cleanup project. Officials at the committee told MLAs that the figures for cleanup of abandoned mine sites are reviewed and updated yearly. While some might not be remediated, there will be some work required to contain sites.
CTV News
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Quebec corruption police raiding offices of auto insurance board
The Quebec anti corruption permanent unit logo is shown Wednesday, October 16, 2024 in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot QUÉBEC — Quebec's corruption police are searching the headquarters of the province's auto insurance board. The auto board has been mired in a scandal for nearly two years over the botched rollout of its new online platform. An auditor general report earlier this year revealed the government wound up paying a total of $1.1 billion for the platform, which was $500 million more than expected. The board is responsible for issuing and renewing driver's licences, administering road tests and the provincial no-fault insurance system. The scandal surrounding the online platform has also been the subject of an ongoing public inquiry. Corruption police are refusing to give details on what led to the search at the board's Quebec City offices. In a statement, the police force says that in general its officers conduct searches to obtain evidence to confirm or refute wrongdoing. Amid mounting pressure, Éric Caire was forced to step down in February as cybersecurity and digital technology minister. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.
