In 2021, the state amended the Policy. It requires agencies to pay invoices with a contract value up to $3 million in 10 business days.

In 2024–25, agencies reported collectively that they paid 81.5 per cent of invoices on time. On average, it took 10.8 calendar days to pay invoices.

But payment timeliness data collected by DJSIR and published by the VSBC is not checked. We found gaps in the collected data. Agencies also told us, on review, that some of the collected and published data is incorrect.

Covered in this section:

We made 9 recommendations to address our findings. The relevant agencies have accepted 7 recommendations and 2 recommendations in principle.

What we examined

Our review followed 2 lines of inquiry: 

1. Does the government pay its private sector suppliers according to contracted or otherwise agreed payment terms?

2. Is the data agencies provide to the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions (DJSIR), and published by the Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) about their invoices, timeframes and compliance rates reliable and do entities fairly present performance publicly? 

Download a PDF copy of Appendix F: Targets missed by a significant margin every year.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix E: Targets met every year.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix D: Outputs we looked at over time.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix C: Review scope and method.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix B: Acronyms and glossary.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix A: Submissions and comments.

This section contains high-level case studies for performance measures in DH, DJCS and DFFH. 

The case studies provide insight into whether these departments have achieved their performance targets between 2020–21 to 2024–25.

We looked at a range of quality, quantity and timeliness measures to reflect the diversity of government service delivery and to identify key issues and trends.

For detailed performance results, please see our dashboard.

Covered in this section: