Resolution of establishment

The Assembly resolved to establish a standing committee on Public Accounts on 2 December 2020. Please click here to view the current resolution and previous amendments.

The committee is responsible for examining the following areas:

• ACT Auditor-General
• Office of the Legislative Assembly
• Accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the ACT and its authorities
• All reports of the Auditor-General which have been presented to the Assembly
• Treasury including taxation and revenue

Click on the title of an inquiry to be taken through to its dedicated sub-page. Click here to find which committee inquiries are currently open for submission.

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All reports of the ACT Auditor-General presented to the Assembly are referred to the Public Accounts Committee. The committee may then choose to examine the report further. Click here to read our procedures for examining these reports.

The ACT Government has guidelines for responding to performance audit reports by the Auditor-General. Click here to read those guidelines.

Want to read a specific Auditor-General's report? Reports can be found on the ACT Audit Office website.

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Strategic Review of ACT Auditor-General 2020

Under the Auditor-General Act 1996 a strategic review of the Auditor-General must be carried out in each term of the Legislative Assembly for the ACT (s24(1)).

The strategic review is a review of the Auditor-General's functions and a performance audit of the Auditor-General (ss 23(a) & (b)).

The Speaker of the Assembly and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts both play a part in the strategic review process.

The Speaker:

• at the request of the Committee (ss 25, 26), engages the Strategic Reviewer;
• receives the Strategic Reviewer's report (s 29(1)); and
• presents a copy of the report to the Legislative Assembly (s 29(3)).

The Standing Committee:

• decides when the strategic review will be conducted (s 24(1));
• decides terms of reference, in consultation with the relevant minister (s 26(1)(a)(i)); and
• asks the Strategic Reviewer to conduct the review according to the terms of reference (s 26(1)(a)(ii)).

The Report on the 2020 Strategic Review of the ACT Auditor-General, conducted by Mr Des Pearson AO, and tabled in the ACT legislative Assembly on 20 February 2020, (view report PDF, 2MB).

For previous reports of Strategic Review of the ACT Auditor-General, please visit ACT Audit-General website.

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Referred Bills

All bills presented to the Assembly are referred to the relevant standing committee for consideration under Standing Order 174.

The committee must advise the Speaker of its decision to inquire into a bill within three weeks of its presentation to the Assembly, or one week after the relevant scrutiny report is tabled (whichever is later).

Where the committee inquiries into a bill, it must complete its report within three months of the bill’s presentation in the Assembly, except bills presented in the last sitting period of each year where the committee must report within four months of the bill’s presentation.

Below is a list of all bills considered by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts during the 10^th Assembly.

Referred Petitions

Pursuant to Standing Order 99A—a petition or e-petition with at least 500 signatories from residents/citizens of the Australian Capital Territory shall be referred to the relevant Assembly standing committee for consideration. In the event that the subject matter of the Petition makes it unclear which committee it should be referred to, the Speaker will determine the appropriate committee.