Liberal MP Steve Martin calls for DPIRD to ‘come clean’ after damning audit report

Member for the Agricultural Region Steve Martin has slammed the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development for not “coming clean” following last year’s damning State Auditor General report. The report highlighted several control issues in the department in the 2022-23 financial year, prompting the Auditor General to issue an adverse controls opinion to DPIRD. It was the first adverse controls opinion issued to a government entity in WA history. The Auditor General determined control weaknesses in DPIRD were “so pervasive, it (was) not possible to conclude that controls were designed and implemented appropriately”. Some areas flagged for concern included the lack of processes in place to prevent the inappropriate use of restricted cash, failure to prepare monthly reconciliations in the 2022-23 financial year, and the weaknesses of payroll controls which increased the risk of salary errors, overpayment and payment to people not entitled pay. The Auditor General said DPIRD’s controls had only “further deteriorated” through the years. In a letter sent early January to WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis, Mr Martin called for transparency from DPIRD. “This report, released to diminished public attention just a few days before Christmas, confirms that the Cook Labor Government has completely failed to address the concerns about DPIRD raised in previous audits. In fact, according to the Auditor General, the situation has become even worse,” he said. “I have written to Minister Jarvis asking for an explanation of what measures are being taken to address this. Parliament doesn’t sit for another six weeks so I think it is important we hear from somebody in the Cook Government now so that the public can have confidence that someone is actually running the department.” A DPIRD spokesperson said the department had taken serious action following the report, resulting in a more favourable unqualified audit opinion, or clean opinion, from the Auditor General for DPIRD’s financial statements and key performance indicators. “DPIRD has now updated its systems and processes to address the main areas of concern raised by the office,” they said. “Additional personnel and resources have also been allocated to pursue ongoing finance system and control improvements.” The spokesperson said DPIRD had always had protective measures to prevent the risk of fraud and other issues. “DPIRD has always had detection systems in place to prevent fraud and mismanagement, as well internal audit and risk functions that ensure the effectiveness of governance and risk management,” the spokesperson said.” Mr Martin said despite the changes, DPIRD and its ministers must explain why control issues worsened between 2021 and 2023, and what the department will do in future to prevent fraud and mismanagement. “We still haven’t heard from Minister Jarvis, (Fisheries) Minister (Don) Punch or Premier (Roger) Cook what the plan is to get the department’s financial management back on track,” he said. “Given the scale of the failure and their short-lived promise of ‘gold standard transparency’, I would have thought this was a priority issue for them to come clean on. “This is a colossal failure from a government that is failing to manage its portfolios effectively across the board, with 85 other significant financial and management control findings against 89 agencies. “If a family farm ran things like this they’d be in all sorts of trouble.“ WAFarmers CEO Trevor Whittington said the control issues stemmed from an inability to manage a department as big as DPIRD. “This is what happens when you try and amalgamate three completely different departments of fishing, agriculture and regional development into one department, and then to proceed to cut its funding each year,” he said. “This is not the Director General’s fault or the minister’s. Responsibility lies with the Treasury underfunding a complex amalgamation which destroyed the old agriculture department.”