Palliative care

This audit assessed whether Victorians with a terminal illness have access to high‑quality palliative care that is timely, coordinated, and responsive to their needs and wishes. Summary Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of people with terminal illnesses by managing pain and distressing symptoms.  With the population ageing and the need for palliative care on the rise, health services face increasing pressure to manage the often complex needs of patients, their carers and families, often in home settings. This audit assessed whether Victorians with a terminal illness have access to high‑quality palliative care that is timely, coordinated, and responsive to their needs and wishes. The audit examined the policies and procedures of the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and four health services. The audit found that DHHS has set a clear and ambitious agenda for the palliative care sector but there is room for improvement. In recent years access to services has improved. However some metropolitan community-based services are struggling to cope with demand. Greater focus is also needed on supporting carers and families. While there have been improvements in areas such as after-hours support for carers and families, further work is needed to ensure carers and families can access support at critical times. In particular, respite provision and access to psychosocial support remain major priorities

Emergency service response times

Assessed how accountable emergency service organisations and the Departments of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and Justice & Regulation (DJR) are for their response time performance. Summary The audit assessed how accountable emergency service organisations and the Departments of Health & Human Services (DHHS) and Justice & Regulation (DJR) are for their response time performance. We found that while response time performance has been largely stable across the last three years, multiple problems with emergency response time measures, targets and data prevent Parliament and the public from holding agencies fully to account. Response time targets are outdated or not based on evidence or a clear rationale; agencies were often unable to explain the basis for their target times to arrive at an emergency. Reporting the percentage of cases that meet a target lacking evidence or rationale fails to describe agency performance in any meaningful way. Response time measures do not cover the full range of emergency responses. Some agencies exclude significant numbers of emergency responses, while others include lesser priority responses. Despite some weaknesses in how response time data is recorded and reported, public reports accurately represent actual performance in most instances.  However, external reports do not have enough information to allow readers to understand response time performance. DHHS and DJR have not appropriately reviewed response time measures to identify and address these issues. Although response times are a relevant part of performance measurement frameworks for emergency service delivery, they are not appropriate stand-alone measures for overall emergency service performance, and should be considered alongside information on outcomes, service quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness

Water entities: results of the 2013–14 audits

This report highlights some key financial challenges and risks for water entities in Victoria, including repaying growing debt and continuing to meet ongoing financial obligations to the state, such as taxes and levies. Overview This report covers the results of our financial audits of 20 entities, comprising 19 water entities and one controlled entity. The report informs Parliament about significant issues arising from the audits of financial and performance reports and augments the assurance provided through audit opinions included in the respective entities’ annual reports. Parliament can have confidence in the water entities financial reports and performance reports as all were given unmodified audit opinions for 2013–14. It is pleasing to note that both financial reports and performance reports met the legislated time frames and improvement has occurred in the quality of performance reporting during 2013–14. The sector generated a net profit before income tax of $318.2 million, an increase of$234.5 million. The increase is largely due to two metropolitan water entities reporting significantly higher profits as a result of higher water consumption and increased water, sewerage and other prices, as approved under the regulatory price setting model. This report highlights some key financial challenges and risks for the water entities, including repaying growing debt and continuing to meet ongoing financial obligations to the state, such as taxes and levies. It also highlights significant increases in total water and sewerage charges by the three metropolitan water retailers in 2013–14

Annual report 2014–15: auditing in the public interest

The Annual Report 2014–15 provides a summary of the performance of Victorian Auditor-General\u27s Office (VAGO) in 2014–15 in fulfilling our purpose to provide assurance to Parliament on the accountability and performance of Victoria’s public sector. This year, our annual report is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 contains our report on operations and financial statements (including the opinion of the independent external auditor appointed by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee). It also: reports on our output performance measures as set in State Budget Papers reports on the implementation of our Annual Plan 2014–15 reports on our increasing impact reports on our organisation and people. Volume 2 contains a summary of common findings from the 34 reports on our audits tabled in Parliament in 2014–15

Operational effectiveness of the myki ticketing system

This audit examined the perational effectiveness of Victorian transport ticketing system, Myki, and whether the outcomes and benefits expected from its introduction are being achieved. Overview In July 2005, the state committed almost $1 billion to develop myki to replace the ageing Metcard system. The myki system was expected to deliver significant benefits to Victorians including more efficient, attractive and reliable transport services, and the best value solution at the lowest whole-of-life cost. Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is currently planning to retender the myki contract which expires in 2016. The audit found that that myki experienced significant delays and related cost increases that have compromised achievement of its original business case objectives and benefits. Poor initial planning resulted in myki\u27s original scope and contract being vaguely specified and overly ambitious. This produced significant delivery risks that were poorly managed because of shortcomings in the state\u27s initial governance and oversight of the project. Since its creation in 2012, PTV has improved oversight and management of the myki contractor. However, significant risks to the state remain due to weaknesses with the contract’s performance regime and the compressed time frames for the myki retender. PTV needs to urgently address these issues to avoid perpetuating past mistakes

Victoria’s consumer protection framework for building construction

This audit assessed the effectiveness of the consumer protection framework for domestic building construction. Summary The audit examined the performance of Victorian Building Authority, Building Practitioners Board, Consumer Affairs Victoria and Victorian Managed Insurance Authority as they provide functions key to building regulation and to the consumer protection framework in domestic building. The report makes recommendations to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victorian Building Authority, Building Practitioners Board, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Department of Treasury and Finance and Victorian Managed Insurance Authority to improve the framework and its implementation. Prompt action is required to ensure domestic building consumers are appropriately protected

Unconventional gas: managing risks and impacts

Overview Unconventional gas is a collective term for three natural gas sources found within different rock layers in the earth’s crust, known as coal seam, tight and shale gas. Between 2000 and 2012 there was some exploration for unconventional gas but no commercial discoveries. In 2012, the government placed a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration—later expanded to all onshore gas. This audit examined whether Victoria is well placed to effectively respond to the potential environmental and community risks and impacts of onshore unconventional gas activities in the event that these proceed in this state. Victoria is not as well placed as it could be to respond to the risks and impacts that could arise if the moratorium is lifted, allowing unconventional gas activities to proceed. The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources (DEDJTR) did not sufficiently assess the risks or effective regulation of these activities prior to 2012, although it has made progress on this since then. The infancy of the industry and the moratorium provide an ideal opportunity for the government to evaluate the full range of potential risks and impacts of unconventional gas. There is key work that DEDJTR needs to do to inform the government about risks, before the moratorium is reviewed. It will also need to better regulate unconventional gas development, should the government allow it to proceed, supported where necessary by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. DEDJTR can also improve its earth resources regulation more generally

Early intervention services for vulnerable children and families

This audit focused on early intervention services provided through the Child and Family Information, Referral and Support Teams and Integrated Family Services system. It examined whether families can readily access these services and whether services are leading to positive outcomes for vulnerable families. Summary In 2013–14, there were 82 075 reports to child protection in Victoria, a 92 per cent increase since 2008–09. Early intervention is important to prevent ‘at risk’ family situations from escalating. The audit found that because of the growing demand and complexity of referrals, Child and Family Information, Referral and Support Teams and Integrated Family Services are increasingly providing intervention to high needs families, which means that families with low to medium needs are missing out. The Department of Health & Human Services needs to improve strategic planning, strengthen partnerships and governance arrangements, and improve communication across local, divisional and central levels of the department and with alliances. It also needs to improve the quality of engagement with service providers, better monitor program risks through routine and systematic data analysis, identify and address key performance issues and measure outcomes. The audit recommends a comprehensive and urgent whole-of-system review of early intervention, including funding

Regional growth fund: outcomes and learnings

Overview This audit assessed the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), the achievement of its intended outcomes and whether the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources (the department) has applied the lessons learned from the RGF to the planning and implementation of the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund (RJIF). Weaknesses in the design and implementation of the RGF mean that the department cannot fully demonstrate that value for money and the goals and objectives of the RGF have all been achieved to date. These weaknesses include a lack of transparency in pre-application processes and fundamental flaws in performance evaluation and reporting. Regional Development Victoria (RDV) has not effectively monitored and reported on all the outcomes of the RGF. The reported outcomes of jobs and investment leveraged are potentially misleading as they inflate the actual achievements of the RGF. Reported job numbers primarily relate to expected, rather than actual jobs created. Consequently, reported RGF figures do not provide an accurate picture of actual achievements. Going forward, the department is applying the lessons learned to the design and implementation of the new RJIF including a stronger evaluation framework. However, given RJIF\u27s recent implementation, it is too early to determine the effectiveness of these improvements