Gun Buy Back Scheme - The Australian National Audit Office

The Attorney-General’s Department advised the ANAO that this
arose because their Financial Management Branch reported the
total amount of funds advanced to the States, while OLEC’s reports
to the Attorney-General focussed on the total amount paid by the
States in compensation. This indicates that monitoring of program
expenditure was undertaken at an appropriately senior level.
Audit and acquittal
3 76 For the purposes of accountability, it is important that
arrangements for audit and acquittal are clearly defined and
understood by relevant parties. In its planning advice, the ANAO
advised the OLEC that States should be required to provide, on
completion of the scheme, a final audited return detailing total
amounts received and expended, supported by a reconciliation of
firearms acquired, paid for and destroyed.
3 77 At the time of this audit in mid-1997, arrangements for the final
audit and acquittal of State compensation payments for firearms
surrender transactions had not been clearly defined by the
Attorney-General’s Department. The Department advised the
ANAO that it was the Department’s expectation that relevant State
Auditors-General were ensuring compliance. However, the
ANAO’s discussions with representatives of those offices indicated
that, with the exception of Tasmania, there was no formal
involvement by State Auditors-General in the acquittance of State
expenditure of buy-back funds. The ANAO concluded that specific
arrangements for independent audit and acquittal differ between
States but were not clearly known to the Attorney-General's
Department.
Conclusion
3 78 Although there were weaknesses in internal management control
and there was a need to amend the 1996 Act, payments to the
States were made legally. The Attorney-General’s Department
managed payments to the States efficiently and effectively.
However, the ANAO found that there was scope to clarify
arrangements for final audit and acquittal of State expenditure of
gun buy-back funds.
Recommendation No.1
3 79 The ANAO recommends that in order to ensure accountability for
the scheme, the Attorney-General's Department clarifies
The Gun Buy-Back Scheme 59