News

May 19, 2011 | Agencies failing to deliver outcomes (The Australian)

Leo Shanahan

AN audit into the NSW government’s indigenous policy has found it inefficient and lacking accountability for the $2.65 billion spent on Aboriginal affairs each year.

The audit of the Two Ways Together plan introduced by the former Labor government in 2003 — a policy that costs about $40 million a year in administration alone — found a distinct lack of accountability among government agencies managing programs for an estimated 160,000 Aboriginal people in the state.

“The plan has failed to deliver the overall outcomes that were intended. Sadly, literacy and numeracy rates remain (poor), unemployment rates remain high, and living conditions only improved marginally,” said NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat. “For example, the unemployment rate for Aboriginal people is at least three times higher than the rate for all NSW residents, and hospital admissions for diabetes are also around three times higher.” …Go to article.