Financial Risk:
Low
Score:
78/100
Asset Disposals
Q24
50/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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There is a formal process and regulations around asset disposal, and there is an internal Directorate of Military Disposals dealing with “major” disposals, while…
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While potential buyers can register their interest and receive information about military equipment disposals from the Australian Military Sales department [1], this information is…
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The aggregated value, sale price, and cost of Defence disposals are reported annually in the Defence Annual Report and Defence Portfolio Budget Statements. This…
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Q25
58/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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Asset disposal processes do not seem to be subject to periodic external scrutiny, though the entire content of the Department of Defence’s (DoD) annual…
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The Auditor-General, heading the Australian National Audit Office, is an independent officer of Parliament [1], and has extensive powers based in legislation and policy…
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While reports from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) are readily available online, including on asset disposal and audits of Defence finance statements –…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
50/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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Defence and security expenditure for all security and defence agencies for the past year – and requests for the coming years – is revealed…
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Q27
75/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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According to the Intelligence Services Act 2001 [1] and information on the role of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), one…
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Q28
88/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) does receive audits of the 6 Australian intelligence and security agencies prepared by the Auditor-General…
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The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) is responsible for scrutinising audits prepared by the Australian National Audit Office of the 6…
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Q29
100/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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Based on the legislative requirements which establish the institutional accountability of government institutions, such as the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 [1]…
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This indicator has been scored ‘Not Applicable’, as there are no off-budget military expenditures permitted (see Q29A) or present in practice (see Q29C). All…
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There is no evidence of off-budget military expenditures in the media or other sources [1]. A recent report by the Australian Accounting Standards Board,…
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Q30
63/100
Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?
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Legislation, such as the Criminal Code Act 1995 [1] and Privacy Act 1988 [2], which require the Australian government to safeguard information, as well…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The Criminal Code Act 1995 [1] and Privacy Act 1988 [2] create the legislative…
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Analysis by academics [1, 2], media reports [3, 4, 5], and a government-commissioned review by Dr. Allan Hawke [6] have repeatedly made the point…
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Q31
100/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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There are three main types of entities and companies that the Commonwealth government controls: Non-corporate Commonwealth entities, Corporate Commonwealth entities, and Commonwealth companies [1].…
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This indicator has been scored ‘Not Applicable’, as the military does not have beneficial ownership over any commercial businesses (see Q31A).
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
100/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
View QuestionIllegal Private Enterprise
Q33
100/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
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Defence strictly regulates work its personnel may carry out outside of on-duty hours. The Military Personnel Policy Manual (MILPERSMAN) [1] provide that defence personnel…
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It is unclear to what extent defence personnel are engaged in unauthorised private enterprise, but given the strict prohibition on the practice (see Q33A)…
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Actual Military Spending
Q77
75/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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Defence releases comprehensive data on actual spending during the budget year in the form of financial statements as part of the Defence Annual Report…
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The vast majority of Defence spending appears to be disclosed and is subject to oversight in that external auditors check that the financial reporting…
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The Department of Defence (DoD) is required under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 to submit the Defence Annual Report “the 15th…
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Variances between the published budget and actual spend are published and disaggregated by Defence outcomes and programs [1], but they are not thoroughly explained…
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