In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994 a copy of this report was provided to the 11 departments, Tourism Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission, the Transport Ticketing Authority, VicRoads and WorkSafe with a request for submissions or comments.
Responses were received as follows:
Government advertising and communications material should be relevant to government responsibilities, appropriately planned, not intended to promote party political interests, based on accurate and verifiable facts, and not excessive or extravagant in relation to the objective.
Advertising and communications activities suffer from a lack of clear leadership and coordinated guidance by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Advertising and communications are accepted means by which governments make known or explain their policies, programs or services. However, the important role they play is easily compromised when public resources are spent with little accountability, or when they serve party political purposes rather than the public good.
Advertising and communications activities are increasingly being used by governments to achieve their objectives in informing the public. However, these activities often attract controversy and political debate over the levels of public funds used and the potential for advertising to be used for party political purposes.
Government advertising and communications activities need to be accountable, to deliver value-for-money and to avoid promoting the incumbent government.
Victorians have the right to be informed about tax-payer funded policies, programs and services. The government uses advertising and communications as key tools to provide this information.
While advertising and communications can assist in efficiently achieving government objectives to inform the public, they often attract controversy and political debate, mainly over the level of public funds used and their potential to be used for party political purposes.
Ordered to be printed
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER February 2012
PP No 105, Session 2010–12
In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994 a copy of this report, or relevant extracts from the report, was provided to all portfolio departments and named agencies with a request for comments or submissions.
Responses were received as follows:
Entity |
Reporting framework |
Financial reports |
Finalised within statutory time frame | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Figure C1
Four core indicators of financial sustainability
Indicator |
Formula |
Description |
|---|---|---|
Underlying result (%) |
Adjusted net surplus/total underlying revenue |
A positive result indicates a surplus, and the larger the percentage the stronger the result. A negative result indicates a deficit. Operating deficits cannot be sustained in the long term. |