Peta Seaton MP
Shadow Minister for Finance, Shadow Minister for Energy, Shadow Minister for Reform of Government, Shadow Minister for the Illawarra
Shadow Minister for Reform of Government Peta Seaton said today the Auditor-General's report into performance information shows Morris Iemma is failing the test of open and transparent government.
The Auditor-General's report into Agency Use of Performance Information to Manage Services released today stated: "…a good deal more needs to be done. Three agencies did not have sufficient information to provide a balanced view of services. And two of these agencies could not tell us whether their services actually made a difference to customers."
The Auditor also stated: "Inadequate performance information presents a risk to effective management and overall accountability… Agencies also shied away from using performance information on similar programs in other states to compare results in NSW and to identify where services could be improved or savings made."
ReplyDelete"This Labor Government has frustrated attempts at every turn to provide more data to the public to allow greater scrutiny of its performance," Ms Seaton said.
"It's unacceptable there are no tests in some agencies to check that the Government's delivery of basic services is actually working," she said.
"It could explain why basic services across NSW are crumbling and not working. This criticism, while damning, is not new," Ms Seaton said.
The Auditor-General highlighted in his annual report: "2004-05 was disappointing in that we have still been unable to convince the Government to improve the standard of public sector reporting and accountability."
"Morris Iemma is interested in hiding information from the community - not providing it, because he's embarrassed of comparisons with other states.
"NSW was once the premier state – but after 11 years of Labor it's now at the bottom of the ladder on many indicators – the economy, mental health, hospital waiting times, and law and order.
"That's why the Liberal/Nationals announced in 2004 performance benchmarking across all agencies of government and the involvement of the Auditor-General in setting performance targets for agency services.
"We also announced annual reporting of the outcomes of services, and comparisons of NSW public sector performance with other interstate and international private and public sector providers," Ms Seaton said.