There were no decisions from any Court during 2018–19 that had, or may have, a significant impact on the operations of the ARC.
There were also no decisions from administrative tribunals or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner during 2018–19 that had, or may have, a significant impact on the operations of the ARC.
During 2018–19 the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) undertook a performance audit of the ARC's administration of the NCGP. The ARC will review its processes in light of the outcomes of this performance audit in 2019–20.
To ensure that the ARC is adhering to best practice, ANAO performance audit reports, recommendations, and key learnings are disseminated to relevant work areas across the ARC for review and consideration.
The ARC provides high-quality parliamentary services to support the agency and the Minister in fulfilling their accountability requirements. These services include: processing, monitoring and quality-assuring ministerial correspondence and briefings; coordinating Question Time Briefs and Senate Estimates; and liaising between and supporting the senior executive and the Minister's office.
In April 2019 the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee released its report on Annual Reports for the agencies for which it is responsible, titled Annual Reports (No. 1 of 2019). The committee assessed the ARC Annual Report 2017–18 as meeting all requirements under the PGPA Rule relating to the letter of transmittal, the inclusion of audit reports, style and formatting, and the assessment of performance against targets.
During 2018–19 the ARC appeared before the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for:
ARC officials also attended Budget Estimates in April 2019, but were not called to give evidence due to the announcement of the Federal Election and the subsequent commencement of caretaker conventions. From these hearings, the ARC received 66 Questions on Notice, 53 of which were tabled on time.
The ARC also prepared submissions to parliamentary committee inquiries during the year. ARC submissions were lodged directly to the relevant committees, or input was provided to the responsible department.
During 2018–19 the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office commenced three investigations into ARC business. These investigations involved consideration by the Ombudsman of the assessment of scores awarded to unfunded grant applications, along with allegations of bias and an appraisal of the grant assessment process.
One investigation is ongoing. Of the two investigations finalised, the Ombudsman concluded that the allegations of bias were unfounded and the grant assessment process followed the correct administrative processes.
No capability reviews of the ARC were conducted or released during 2018–19.