The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity covered by the Public Service Act 1999. This audit provides assurance to the Parliament that ACMA has complied with gifts, benefits and hospitality requirements.

The Act requires that Australian Public Service (APS) employees, agency heads and statutory office holders abide by the APS Code of Conduct. The APS Code of Conduct, consistent with duties under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act), requires officials to declare the receipt of gifts, benefits and hospitality. Collectively, these requirements establish obligations for officials and Commonwealth entities in relation to how they manage the provision and receipt of gifts, benefits and hospitality.

Section 27 of the PGPA Act states that an official must not improperly use their position to gain, or seek to gain, a benefit to themselves or another person, or to cause, or seek to cause, detriment to the entity, the Commonwealth, or any other person. Public service entities must meet public expectations of integrity, accountability, independence, transparency, and professionalism. Acceptance of a gift or benefit that relates to an official’s employment can create a real or apparent conflict of interest that should be avoided.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether ACMA had complied with gifts, benefits and hospitality requirements.

Key findings:

• ACMA is partly effective in managing and controlling the risks associated with giving and receiving gifts, benefits and hospitality. ACMA’s policies are largely in place to manage gifts, benefits and hospitality. The implementation of its policies is partly effective.
• ACMA has established largely fit-for-purpose arrangements to manage the compliance requirements and risks associated with the management of gifts, benefits and hospitality. ACMA has implemented policies for gifts, benefits and hospitality that include an internal declaration process to support the public reporting requirements for all officials including the agency head. The policies also identify business functions where the acceptance or provision of gifts, benefits and hospitality may create increased risk of conflicts of interest, impacting on ACMA’s integrity and independence as the Australian Government regulator for communications and media services.
• Analysis identified 19 instances of gifts, benefits and hospitality that were not declared in accordance with ACMA’s policy requirements. Of ACMA’s declarations of gifts, benefits and hospitality, 42 per cent did not meet ACMA’s declaration timeframe of 14 days. Mandatory training and conflicts of interest declarations were not completed as required in ACMA’s policies.