Tourism Australia makes trust pledge as spending laid bare

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Tourism Australia has once again come under scrutiny for its use of taxpayers’ money, this time with an audit raising concerns around how the tourism board manages its spending and supplier relationships.The audit by the Australian National Audit Office found that TA had reported a total $266 million in contracts with a start date between July 2021 and June of this year. In the 2023–24 financial year, payments to suppliers accounted for 74% of TA’s total expenses, highlighting the importance of its procurement processes.Despite this, the audit revealed it had fallen short on this front. “TA’s procurement processes have not demonstrated the achievement of value for money,” the report said. “TA makes insufficient use of open and competitive procurement processes, with 70% of the 33 procurements examined in detail by the ANAO not involving open competition.”Additionally, TA was shown not to have established an appropriate procurement policy framework, often failing to adhere to Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs).The audit also highlighted TA’s contract management as ineffective. None of the 33 contracts reviewed had a management plan, and for more than half, there were no clear performance requirements.ANAO concluded the report with nine recommendations which TA said it was “fully committed” to implementing.“Tourism Australia had already begin to make improvements to its procurement and contract management systems ahead of the audit, and the agency is in the process of implementing remedial actions relating to the recommendations,” a letter to the ANAO from Chairman Michael Issenberg said.He pointed out that much of the work in question took place during the pandemic period, when the tourism body’s primary focus was aimed elsewhere. But stressed it would take the necessary measures to “ensure it maintains the trust of the tourism industry and Australian taxpayers”.This latest turn of events follows the firing of three employees at TA earlier this year after they were discovered going on personal holidays using taxpayer money.

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