1 In this paper, accountability is taken to mean the direct relationship of authority by which one party accounts to a person or body for the performance of tasks or functions conferred, or able to be conferred, by that person or body.
2 Howard, John the Hon. MP, Prime Minister 2001, Centenary of the APS Oration, Canberra, June.
3 ibid.
4 Management Advisory Committee, 2002, Australian Government use of information and communication technology, Canberra.
5 United Kingdom, Cabinet Office, Central IT Unit 1999, Modernising Government: Vision, London, p.1, [Online], Available: http://www.citu.gov.uk/modern ov/whitepaper/chap1.htm
6 Lewis, Mervyn K. 2002, Risk Management in Public Private Partnerships, National Australia Bank Professor, University of South Australia, Adelaide, p.1.
7 Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance 2000, Guiding Principles for Private Sector Participation in Public Infrastructure Provision, Appendix A, July, p. 28.
8 New South Wales Government 2001, Working with Government: Emerging PFP Opportunities, Sydney, November, p. 1.
9 These were the subjects of two Reports by the Audit Office of New South Wales: Private Participation in the Provision of Public Infrastructure: The Roads and Traffic Authority, 1994, and Roads and Traffic Authority: the M2 Motorway, 1995
10 For further discussion see, for example: Barrett P. 2000, What ' s New in Corporate Governance, Presentation by the Auditor-General for Australia to the CPA Australia, Annual Congress, 17 November, Available: http://www.anao.gov.au.
11 For example, the introduction of privately operated prisons in Victoria was considered in a performance audit undertaken by the Victorian Auditor-General's Office in 1999, Victoria's prison system: Community protection and prisoner welfare. Special Report 60, Melbourne, May.
12 National Commission of Audit, 1996, Report to the Commonwealth Government, AGPS, Canberra, June, p. 196.
13 Lewis, Mervyn K. 2002, op. cit., p.8.
14 UK National Audit Office 2001, Managing the relationship to secure a successful partnership in PFI projects, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 375 Session 2001-2002, 29 November, p.1.
15 For example, the Commonwealth Policy Principles for the Use of Private Financing released by the Minister for Finance and Administration in June 2002 identify transparency and accountability as two of the three core principles that are to guide the evaluation of private financing proposals. Similarly, the Victorian policy also requires an assessment of the impact of the project on accountability and transparency, with consideration of whether the partnership arrangements ensure that the community can be well informed about the obligations of the Government and the private sector partner, and that these can be over sighted by the Auditor-General: Partnerships Victoria, 2000, Melbourne, p.8.
16 Department of the Parliamentary Library 2002, Research Paper No. 1 2002-03, Public Private Partnerships: An Introduction, Canberra, September, p. 4.
17 Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance 2000, op. cit., p.4.
18 Minchin Nick The Hon., Minister for Finance and Administration 2002, Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing, Canberra, June, p. 9.
19 ibid., p. 3.
20 NSW Public Accounts Committee 2002, Case Studies and Issues in the Private Financing of Public Infrastructure and Services, Report No.134, Sydney, October, p. 1.
21 Harris, A. C., New South Wales Auditor-General 1998, Credulity and Credibility in Infrastructure Funding, presented to "BOOT - In the Public Interest" Conference, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism and the University of Sydney Australian Mekong Resource Centre, University of Technology, 20 March.
22 Department of the Parliamentary Library 2002, op. cit. p. ii
23 Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing 2002, op. cit. p. 9.
24 For example, the 1999 Ralph Review of Business Taxation recommended that section 51AD be abolished and that Division 16D be replaced: A New Tax System Redesigned, p. 392, quoted in Department of the Parliamentary Library 2002, op. cit. p. 18.
25 Coonan, Helen Senator The Hon., Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer 2002, Speech to AFR Infrastructure Summit, Melbourne, 15 August.
26 Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing, op. cit. p. 9.
27 Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance 2000, Private Sector Participation in Public Infrastructure Provision: Policy Statement, Hobart, July, p.5.
28 Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance 2000, op. cit. p.16.
29 UK National Audit Office 2001, The Re-negotiation of the PFI-type deal for the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General HC 103 Session 2000-2001, London, 18 January, p. 6.
30 Partnerships Victoria Guidance Material 2001, Risk Allocation and Contractual Issue- a guide, Melbourne, June, p.20.
31 NSW Public Accounts Committee 2001, Inquiry into the Funding of Capital Projects by the New South Wales Government: Parramatta Rail Link Pre-Tender Procurement - A Case Study, Report No.126, Sydney, January, p. 33.
32 Partnerships Victoria Guidance Material, op. cit. p. 8.
33 Lewis, Mervyn K. 2002, op. cit, p.9.
34 UK National Audit Office 2001, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General HC 302, Parliamentary Session 2000-2001, London, March.
35 ibid., pp.8-10.
36 Audit Office of New South Wales 1997, Review of Eastern Distributor, Sydney, July, p. 18.
37 ibid., p. 25.
38 Auditor-General's Office Victoria 1999, Report on Ministerial Portfolios, Melbourne, May, pp. 123-4.
39 UK National Audit Office 2002, Ministry of Defence: Redevelopment of MOD Main Building, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General HC 748, Parliamentary Session 2001-2002, London, April, p. 2.
40 ibid., pp. 2-3
41 ibid., p. 3.
42 ANAO Audit Report No. 63 2001-02, Management of DASFLEET Tied Contract, Canberra, 26 June, pp.15-16.
43 ANAO Audit Report No. 25 1998-99, DAS Business Unit Sales - DASFLEET Sale, Canberra, 15 December.
44 AASB 2001, Project Summary: Public Infrastructure Disclosures, August, p. 1.
45 AASB 2002, Project Summary: Accounting for Service Concession Arrangements (formerly Public Infrastructure Disclosure), December, p.1.
46 ibid.
47 Department of the Parliamentary Library 2002, op. cit., p. ii
48 New South Wales Treasury Office of Financial Management 2002, Research & Information Paper, Private Provision of Public Infrastructure and Services, Sydney, April, p. 2.
49 South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance 2002, Partnerships SA - Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Public Services: Guidelines for the Private Sector, Adelaide, p.21.
50 Reith, Peter The Hon. MP, Minister for Defence 2001, Media Release Min 240/01, 8 July.
51 Hill, Robert Senator the Hon., Minister for Defence 2002, Media Release MIN 316/02, 28 June.
52 Flynn, Colin. 2000, The Real Role of Risk, Australasian Risk Management, Vol. 10, No. 2, March, p. 9.
53 For example, the Victorian policy, Partnerships Victoria (p. 8) and the Guidelines for Privately Financed Projects (p. 10) issued by the NSW Government both include a specific public interest test, incorporating a requirement for adequate accountability and transparency.
54 The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy 1995, Corporate Governance- A Framework for Public Service Bodies, CIPFA, London, July, p. 46
55 Barrett, P. 2002, Some Perspectives on the Audit Relationship with Parliament, Presentation by the Auditor-General for Australia, House of Representatives Occasional Seminar Series, 17 September, p.1
56 Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing 2002, op. cit., p. 11.
57 Victorian Public Accounts and Estimates Committee 2002, Issues Paper: Inquiry into Corporate Governance in the Victorian Public Sector, Melbourne, April, p. 11.
58 ibid., pp. 13-14.
59 NSW Public Accounts Committee 2001, Inquiry into the Funding of Capital Projects by the New South Wales Government: Parramatta Rail Link Pre-Tender Procurement - A Case Study, Report No.126, Sydney, January, p. 31.
60 NSW Public Accounts Committee 2002, Case Studies and Issues in the Private Financing of Public Infrastructure and Services, Report No.134, Sydney, October, p. 1.
61 Victorian Auditor-General's Office 2002, Report on Public Sector Agencies, June 2002, Melbourne, paragraph 3.7.
62 ibid., paragraph 3.9.
63 ibid., paragraphs 3.10-3.12.
64 ibid., paragraph 3.13.
65 ibid., paragraphs 3.14-3.17.
66 ibid., paragraph 3.23.
67 Department of the Parliamentary Library 2002, op. cit. p. 7.
68 UK National Audit Office, 2001, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, op. cit., p.1.
69 ibid., p. 3
70 ibid.
71 Arthur Andersen and Enterprise LSE, 2000, Value for Money Drivers in the Private Financing Initiative, Report commissioned by The Treasury Task Force, London, January, pp.21-23
72 UK National Audit Office 1999, Examining the value for money of deals under the Private Financing Initiative, Appendix 2:'Risk Allocation", London, August, p. 64.
73 UK National Audit Office 2002, The Public Private Partnership for National Air Traffic Services Ltd, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General HC 1096, Session 2001-2002, London, July, p. 1.
74 ibid.
75 ibid., p.43.
76 ibid.
77 The Economist, 1994, 'Watching the boss: A survey of corporate governance,' 29 January, p. 18.
78 ANAO Audit Report No.11 2001-02, Administration of the Federation Fund Programme, Canberra, 19 September.
79 ibid., p.17
80 ibid.
81 Lewis, Mervyn K. 2002, op. cit., p.6.
82 In the 1996 Third Tranche Sale of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 30 per cent of selling commissions on sales to institutions were reserved for selling syndicate members with the remaining 70 per cent allocated among all stockbrokers according to how may shares they sold. In the 1997 Telstra Initial Public Share Offer, the competitive component of the commission in institutional sales was reduced to 60 per cent, meaning a higher proportion of commissions was allocated to brokers in the selling syndicate rather than rewarding selling performance.
83 ANAO Audit Report No. 10 1998-99, Sale of One-Third of Telstra, Canberra, 19 October.
84 Statement of Accounting Standard AAS21 1985, 'Accounting for the Acquisition of Assets (including Business Entities)'.
85 ANAO Audit Report No. 20 2000-01, Second Tranche Sale Telstra Shares, Canberra, 30 November.
86 ANAO Audit Report No. 4 2001-02, Commonwealth Estate Property Sales, Canberra, August.
87 ibid., p. 89.
88 Fahey, John The Hon, Minister for Finance and Administration 2001, Transcript, The World Today, 2 August.
89 Humphry, Richard 2000, Review of the Whole of Government Information Technology Initiative, Canberra, pp. 10, 13, 30, 31 and 32.
90 ANAO Audit Report No. 9 2000-01, Implementation of Whole-of-Government Information Technology Infrastructure Consolidation and Outsourcing Initiative. Canberra, 6 September, p. 177.
91 ibid. p. 171.
92 Humphry, Richard 2000, op. cit. p.10.
93 ibid.
94 Fahey, John The Hon 2001. Review of the Implementation of the Whole of Government Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, Media Statement, Canberra, 12 January.
95 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Re-booting the IT agenda in the Australian Public Service: Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, August, p.xv.
96 ibid., p. xvi.
97 Industry Commission 1996, Competitive Tendering and Contracting by Public Sector Agencies, Report No.48, Melbourne, 24 January.
98 For example, ANAO Audit Report No. 10 1998-99, Sale of One-third of Telstra, concluded that, as an essential element of the outsourcing of project management for future Commonwealth public share offers, overall value for money could be improved by giving greater emphasis to financial issues when tendering for advisers; encouraging more competitive pressure on selling commissions and fees; paying fees only for services actually provided; and instituting a more effective and commercial approach to administering payment for shares by investors.
99 ANAO Audit Report No. 34 1999-2000, Construction of the National Museum of Australia and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 16 March, p. 13.
100 ibid.
101 ibid.
102 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 1998, Contracting Out of Government Services, Second Report, The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, May.
103 Barrett, P. 2000, What's New in Corporate Governance, a presentation to the CPA Australia Annual Congress, Adelaide, 17 November, pp. 30-31.
104 O'Looney, J. A. 1998, Outsourcing State and Local Government Services - Decision- Making Strategies and Management Methods. Quorum Books, London, p. 147.
105 Industry Commission 1996, Competitive Tendering and Contracting by Public Sector Agencies, AGPS, Canberra, pp. 333-5.
106 Seddon, N. 1995, Government Contracts: Federal, State and Local, Federation Press, Sydney, p. 74.
107 OECD - Public Management Committee 1999, Performance Contracting, Lessons from Performance Contracting Case Studies, OECD, Paris, 17 November, p. 41.
108 ANAO Audit Report No. 24 1997-98, Matters Relevant to a Contract with South Pacific Cruise Lines Ltd, Canberra, 15 December.
109 ANAO Audit Report No. 34 1997-98, New Submarine Project, Canberra, 24 March.
110 ANAO Audit Report No. 24 1999-2000, Commonwealth Management and Regulation of Plasma Fractionation, Canberra, 22 December.
111 UK National Audit Office 2001, Managing the relationship to secure a successful partnership in PFI projects, op. cit., p.1.
112 McIntosh, M. K. and Prescott, J. B. 1999, Report to the Minister for Defence on the Collins Class Submarine and Related Matters, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 29.
113 Audit Review of Government Contracts 2000, Contracting, Privatisation, Probity and Disclosure in Victoria 1992-1999: An Independent Report to Government, Report, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne, May, p. 30.
114 ANAO Audit Report No. 63 2001-02, Management of DASFLEET Tied Contract, June, pp. 49-51.
115 ANAO Audit Report No. 9 2000-01, op. cit. p. 198.
116 ibid., p. 241.
117 Victorian Auditor-General's Office 1999, Victoria's prison system: Community protection and prisoner welfare, op. cit., paragraph 5.42-5.44.
118 Blake Dawson Waldron 2000, Canberra Notes-A Summary of Current Developments, Issue No. 1, January, pp. 13-14.
119 Kheir, Majed 2001, Diagnosing accountability and ensuring responsible corporate governance when outsourcing in the public sector, Address to IIR Conference 'Managing Risks When Outsourcing in the Public Sector', Canberra, 2 May, p. 8.
120 ibid.
121 ANAO Audit Report No. 9 2000-01, op. cit., p. 235.
122 ANAO Audit Report No. 9 2000-01, op. cit., p. 235.
123 Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit 2000, Contract Management in the Australian Public Service, Report 379, The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2 November.
124 ANAO Audit Report No.12 1999-2000, Management of Contracted Business Support Processes, Canberra, 14 October.
125 ANAO Audit Report No. 42 1999-2000, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Services- Effectiveness and Probity of the Policy Development Process and Implementation, Canberra, 10 May.
126 ANAO Audit Report No. 14 2002-03, Health Group IT Outsourcing Tender Process, Canberra, 29 October, p. 31.
127 ibid.
128 ANAO Audit Report No. 45 2001-02, Recordkeeping, Canberra, May.
129 Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit 2001, Review of the Auditor-General Act 1997, Report No. 386, Canberra, August, quoted in Barrett, P. 2002, Some Perspectives on the Audit Relationship with Parliament, op. cit., p.4.
130 Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing, op. cit., p. 11.
131 Stewart, Dr Jenny 2001, Hands off the Auditor!, in the Public Sector Informer, Canberra, October, p. 6.
132 Australasian Council of Auditors-General 1997, Statement of Principles: Commercial Confidentiality and the Public Interest, Canberra, November.
133 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Accountability in a Commercial Environment - Emerging Issues, Interim Report, Inquiry into the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, April, p.21.
134 Freedom of Information Act 1982, section 43.
135 de Maria, W 2001, Commercial-in-Confidence: An Obituary to Transparency?, Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol. 60, no. 4, p.93.
136 Barrett, P. 2002, Some Perspectives on the Audit Relationship with Parliament, op. cit., p.10.
137 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, op. cit., pp. 159-160.
138 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Re-booting the IT agenda in the Australian Public Service, Government Senators' Minority Report, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, August, p.240.
139 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Accountability in a Commercial Environment - Emerging Issues, op. cit., p.26
140 Australasian Council of Auditors-General 1997, op. cit.
141 The audit sought to: assess the extent of guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in the context of contracts at a government wide level or within selected agencies; develop criteria that could be used to determine whether information in (or in relation to) a contract is confidential, and what limits should apply; assess the appropriateness of agencies' use of confidentiality clauses in the context of contracts to cover information relating to contracted provisions of goods and services, and the implications of existing practices of applying the criteria that have been developed; and assess the effectiveness of the existing accountability and disclosure arrangements for the transparency of contracts entered into by the Commonwealth, and whether agencies are complying with the arrangements: ANAO Audit Report No 38 2000-01, The Use of Confidentiality Provisions in Commonwealth Contracts., Canberra, 24 May, p. 13.
142 ibid., p. 15.
143 ibid., p. 55-60.
144 ibid., p. 64. The following types of information in, or in relation to, contracts would generally not be considered to be confidential:
• performance and financial guarantees;
• indemnities;
• the price of an individual item, or groups of items of goods or services;
• rebate, liquidated damages and service credit clauses;
• clauses which describe how intellectual property rights are to be dealt with; and
• payment arrangements.
145 ibid., p. 65. The following types of information may meet the criteria of being protected as confidential information:
• trade secrets;
• proprietary information of contractors (this could be information about how a particular technical or business solution is to be provided);
• a contractor's internal costing information or information about its profit margins;
• pricing structures (where this information would reveal whether a contractor was making a profit or loss on the supply of a particular good or service); and
• intellectual property matters where these relate to a contractor's competitive position.
146 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Commonwealth Contracts: A New Framework for Accountability, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, September (See Appendix A).
147 ANAO Audit Report No. 8 2002-03, The Senate Order for Department and Agency Contracts (September 2002), Canberra, September, p. 12.
148 ANAO Audit Report No. 33 2001-02, Senate Order of 20 June 2001(February 2002), Canberra, February and ANAO Audit Report No. 8 2002-03, The Senate Order for Department and Agency Contracts (September 2002), Canberra, September.
149 ANAO Audit Report No. 8 2002-03, op. cit., p. 15.
150 ibid., p. 16.
151 Dr Nick Seddon, quoted in Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, op. cit. p.4.
152 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2002, Departmental and agency contracts: Report on the first year of operation of the Senate Order for the production of lists of departmental and agency contracts, Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra, December.
153 ibid., p. 33.
154 ibid., pp. 36-51.
155 Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance, 2000, op cit. p. 9.
156 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, op. cit. p.8.
157 The Victorian Public Accounts and Estimates Committee had earlier also endorsed the view that the decision as to whether or not to disclose commercially sensitive information should be made according to the general principle that information should be made public unless there is a justifiable reason for withholding access to it; Inquiry into Commercial in Confidence Material and the Public Interest, 35th Report to Parliament, Melbourne, March 2000, p. xxxi.
158 New South Wales Government 2001, Working with Government: Policy for Privately Financed Projects, Sydney, November, p. 2.
159 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, op. cit., p.8.
160 Audit Office of New South Wales 1999, Contracting Out Review Guide, Sydney, June, p.1.
161 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, op. cit., p.5.
162 ibid., p.7.
163 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, op. cit, p.164.
164 Audit Office of New South Wales 1995, Roads and Traffic Authority: The M2 Motorway, Sydney, January, p. 3.
165 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, op. cit. p.167.
166 For example, Section 50 of the Australian Constitution empowers the Senate to delegate to committees certain powers to conduct inquiries. The Senate Standing Orders, the Senate's rules for the conduct of its proceedings made in accordance with Section 50 of the Constitution, confer on committees the power to invite the attendance of a person or the production of a document, and if that invitation is declined, to require the attendance of that person, or that document.
167 Egan vs Willis and Egan vs Chadwick & Ors, referenced in Sendt, B. NSW Auditor- General 2002, Keeping Governments Accountable: The Taxpayer's Right to Know, Presentation at Seminar, Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand, 25 March.
168 Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, 10th Edition, 2001, p. 398: Odgers' identifies the two qualifications as: there is probably an implicit limitation on the power of the Senate to summon members of the other House or of a state or territory legislature, and this limitation may extend also to all state officers. It may also be held that the investigatory power of committees is limited to matters within Commonwealth legislative power as delineated by the Constitution. Neither possible limitation has been adjudicated.
169 Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, op. cit., p. 398.
170 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Inquiry into the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative: Accountability Issues, Two Case Studies, The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, June, p. 31.
171 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, op. cit. p. 166.
172 ibid., p.167.
173 Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, op. cit., p. 482.
174 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee, Final Report on the Government's Information Technology Outsourcing Initiative, op. cit., p.157.
175 ibid., p.6.
176 ibid.,
177 ibid., p.168.
178 Australasian Council of Auditors-General 1997, op. cit.
179 Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines, September 2001, subsection 1.2.
180 Commonwealth Policy Principles For The Use of Private Financing, op. cit., p. 11.
181 ibid.
182 Australasian Council of Auditors-General 1997, op. cit.
183 Confidence Material and the Public Interest, op. cit.
184 Victorian Public Accounts and Estimates Committee 2000, Inquiry into Commercial in Confidence Material and the Public Interest, op. cit.
185 ibid., pp. xix and. 80-81.
186 Section 37(2) of the Auditor-General Act 1997 sets out the following reasons for non disclosure of information in the public interest:
(a) it would prejudice the security, defence or international relations of the Commonwealth;
(b) it would involve the disclosure of deliberations or decisions of the Cabinet or of a Committee of the Cabinet;
(c) it would prejudice relations between the Commonwealth and a State;
(d) it would divulge any information or matter that was communicated in confidence by the Commonwealth to a State, or by a State to the Commonwealth;
(e) it would unfairly prejudice the commercial interests of any body or person;
(f) any other reason that could form the basis for a claim by the Crown in right of the Commonwealth in a judicial proceeding that the information should not be disclosed.
187 Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee 2001, Final Report on the Inquiry into the Mechanism for Providing Accountability to the Senate in relation to Government Contracts, op. cit., p.7.
188 Mulgan, Richard 2000, Comparing Accountability in the Public and Private Sectors, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol.59, No.1, March, p. 96.
189 Hughes, Owen E. 1998, Public Management and Administration - An Introduction, Second Edition, Macmillan Education Australia, Melbourne, p. 229.
190 Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 2000, Report on 1998- 99 Annual Reports, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, March, p. 9.
191 Harris, A. C., New South Wales Auditor-General 1998, Accountability and Commercialisation in the Public Sector, presented to CPA Congress '98, Technical Session 31, Tuesday 13 October.