The feds have improved oversighting how public money is paid to the private sector

The Australian National Audit Office has audited federal wage subsidies paid in a range of programmes administered by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment to find its administration is “largely effective.”

“System controls support the accurate processing and management of wage subsidies. There is a largely effective compliance programme in place, based on risk, “the ANAO reports.

Makes an excellent change from the VET FEE HELP student loan scheme programme administered by the then Department of Education and Training, which was rorted by some private VET providers, to a cost to the Commonwealth of $2.2bn. The ANAO reported, “as the responsible department, Education did not establish processes to ensure that all objectives, risks and consequences were managed in implementing the expanded scheme. … The department’s focus on increasing participation overrode integrity and accountability considerations that would have been expected given the inherent risks.” (CMM December 21 2016).