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Australia - Online Availability of Government Entities' Documents Tabled in the Australian Parliament

Published by The Auditor-General, Audit Report No.37 2008–09, Performance Audit. Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), 25 May 2009.

Every year, documents are presented to the Australian Parliament for their consideration. Approximately 7000 documents are tabled in Parliament annually. Government policy requires government entities to provide printed copies of tabled papers to a range of recipients including the Senate Table Office (60 copies); the House of Representatives Table Office (60 copies); the Press Gallery (60 copies), and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) Table Office (five copies). In addition, amongst other things, government entities are required to provide 100 copies of Parliamentary Paper Series documents for distribution to eligible organisations. There are also requirements for entities to publish electronic versions of tabled documents.

In May 2006, the Joint Committee on Publications (Joint Committee) released the report Distribution of the Parliamentary Papers Series, which discussed, among other things, the benefits that an electronic version of the Parliamentary Papers Series could deliver. The Joint Committee’s 2006 report noted that no organisation was responsible for monitoring and ensuring that appropriate government. documentation was published online. To address this concern, the Joint Committee proposed that the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) regularly monitor the online availability of government documents, especially those presented to the Parliament. In March 2007 the Auditor-General wrote to the Joint Committee’s Secretary advising that he would undertake an audit of the availability of government documents online. He also advised that any subsequent audits would be dependent on the results of the initial audit. This audit, which commenced in June 2008, is the outcome of the Auditor-General’s decision.

Audit objective and approach

The objectives of the audit were to:

determine the extent to which government entities complied with the requirement to publish and maintain documents online that were presented to the Parliament;
evaluate selected government entities’ policies and practices regarding online publishing; and
assess the Australian Government Information Management Office's policy and guidance in support of online publishing.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are based on findings from our desktop review of online tabled papers and fieldwork at the audited government entities. In particular, Recommendations 1 and 2 are likely to be relevant to all government entities.

Recommendation No.1: The ANAO recommends that entities review the accessibility of their online documents against the requirements of the web accessibility standard endorsed by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Recommendation No.2: The ANAO recommends that government entities that do not have a web presence, table multiple documents in the Parliament each year, and/or have been affected by a Machinery of Government change, implement arrangements to ensure the online availability of their tabled papers in accordance with Australian Government policy.

Recommendation No.3: The ANAO recommends that the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, in consultation with other relevant government entities, review their guidance and clarify the requirements to publish and maintain documents presented to the Parliament.

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