The Australian Government provides more than $55 billion per annum in payments to the states and territories for specific purposes. Given the size of these payments and the important policy objectives, services and projects they are intended to deliver, it is important this money is spent effectively and that the states and territories are accountable for their performance. PM&C enhanced the transparency and accountability of these financial arrangements through two key initiatives.

• PM&C delivered the COAG Performance Dashboard, which replaced the previous annual COAG Performance reports. The Dashboard provides an overview of the performance of Australian governments in achieving COAG commitments against a range of economic, health and social indicators. The new format provides visual representation of data, explanatory text and access to raw data for benchmarks and indicators in national agreements and significant national partnerships. The interactive dashboard allows users to view outcomes by policy area and jurisdiction and to compare outcomes.
• PM&C developed a new framework for Commonwealth payments to improve accountability of the states and territories and link payments to performance. This increased transparency of the outputs and outcomes through improved public performance reporting and supported consistency in payments through increased Cabinet oversight.