Corporate governance

PM&C’s corporate governance framework supported the Department’s mission and purposes while ensuring proper use and management of public resources. Our risks were managed within the Department’s level of tolerance, and accountability and legislative requirements were met. Our governance structures were reviewed regularly in light of changes to our operating environment to ensure they remained fit for purpose and are underpinned by a culture of accountability, integrity and trust. Key components of our corporate governance framework are:

  • the Department’s strategic corporate planning and performance reporting processes
  • a governance committee structure (see Table 3.1)
  • audit and assurance activities
  • risk management framework, systems and controls
  • fraud prevention and control
  • business continuity planning and response
  • an individual performance management framework.

Committees

PM&C’s governance committees, outlined in Table 3.1, ensured good governance across the Department and supported the Secretary and other senior executives in fulfilling their corporate and governance responsibilities.

Table 3.1: Departmental committees and their purposes
Committee Purpose

Executive Board

Provided senior leadership and strategic direction over the delivery of Government and other departmental priorities and objectives. It made key decisions and reviewed risks with a primary focus on Government priorities, strategic planning in policy and service delivery, performance monitoring, innovation and diversity.

Audit and Risk Committee

Provided independent advice and assistance to the Secretary and the executive on the appropriateness of PM&C’s financial and performance reporting responsibilities, risk oversight and management, and systems of internal control.

Inclusion and Diversity Committee

Promoted inclusion and diversity initiatives, and change within the Department. It provided strategic advice on the Department's inclusion and diversity strategy and objectives and their alignment with business goals.

Consultative Committee

Provided a mechanism for general staff consultation between management and employee representatives on workplace relations matters that affected employees. It played an important role in ensuring that staff have a voice on issues affecting their employment conditions and corporate matters at PM&C.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee

Provided a formal mechanism for consultation and cooperation on work health and safety  matters that affect workers.

Audit and Risk Committee

The PM&C Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) provided independent advice and assistance to the Secretary and the executive.

The ARC Charter set out the ARC's role, authority, responsibilities, composition and tenure, reporting, and administrative arrangements. The ARC Charter can be found at https://www.pmc.gov.au/publications/audit-and-risk-committee-charter.

Table 3.2 provides information about the membership of the ARC between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020.

Table 3.2: Audit and Risk Committee membership, meeting attendance and remuneration, 2019–20
Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Carol Lilley (Chair)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Carol Lilley is the Chair of the PM&C Audit and Risk Committee. She has been an independent member since June 2019 and Chair since September 2019.

Ms Lilley’s experience and qualifications are as follows:

  • Ms Lilley is currently serving on a range of Australian Government audit committees, including Department of Home Affairs, Services Australia, Australian Federal Police and Austrade.
  • She is the Deputy Chair of Icon Water and has had other director roles in the Australian Government and the private sector.
  • She is also the Chair of two Australian Capital Territory Government Directorate Audit Committees (Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development; and Transport Canberra and City Services).
  • She is a former partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (2004–2011). She is now an independent director and audit committee member. Her background is in financial statements, internal audit and risk management.
  • Ms Lilley has a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Western Australia and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand and a certified internal auditor.

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

4/4

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

$17,015.00

Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Paul Smith (Independent Member)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Paul Smith is an independent management consultant. He has been an independent member of PM&C’s Audit and Risk Committee since November 2019.

Mr Smith’s experience and qualifications are as follows:

  • Mr Smith has operated in executive committee roles across all facets of consulting organisations, including strategy, operation and compliance.
  • He has over 35 years’ experience in financial management and ICT consulting to public sector, commercial and not-for-profit organisations.
  • He has been a partner in professional consulting firms for 21 years. He was Founding Partner of Callida Consulting.
  • He is a Fellow of CPA Australia; a Senior Certified Professional of the Australian Computer Society and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
  • Mr Smith's qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce from the Australian National University (ANU).

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

3/3

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

$6,818.18

Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Maria Storti (Independent Member)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Maria Storti has been an independent member of PM&C’s Audit and Risk Committee since 2018. She is Chair of PM&C’s Financial Statements Sub-Committee (FSSC). She was Acting Chair for the committee's August 2019 meeting.

Ms Storti’s experience and qualifications are as follows:

  • Ms Storti specialises in financial management, governance and risk management.
  • She has served in senior executive roles and consultancy for over three decades.
  • She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
  • Her experience includes EY Performance Improvement Partner, Deputy CEO at Defence Housing Australia and Vice-President Governance & Development at the University of Canberra.
  • Ms Storti's qualifications include a Master of Business Administration.

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

4/4

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

$17,045.45
(This includes Ms Storti’s remuneration as Chair of the FSSC)

Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Jeff Lamond (Chair until September 2019)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Jeff Lamond served as an independent member of PM&C’s Audit and Risk Committee from July 2013 and as Chair from April 2014 until September 2019.

Mr Lamond’s qualifications and experience are as follows:

  • Mr Lamond had a 33 year career in the Australian Public Service (APS). For the last 14 years he served as an Senior Executive Service (SES) officer.
  • His roles included the Statutory Office of Merit Protection Commissioner and SES Band 2 officer in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

0/1

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

$0

Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Stephanie Foster (SES Member)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Stephanie Foster is Deputy Secretary, Governance, at PM&C. She served as internal SES member of the PM&C Audit and Risk Committee from 11 December 2017 to 30 March 2020.

Ms Foster’s experience is as follows:

  • Ms Foster was Deputy Australian Public Service Commissioner from 2013 to 2017.
  • She was Deputy Secretary Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sports from 2011 to 2013.
  • She was Deputy Secretary Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government from 2008 to 2011.

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

2/3

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

NA

Audit and Risk Committee member name and title

Deborah Anton (SES Member)

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience

Deborah Anton is a career public servant who has held senior executive roles across a range of portfolios. She has served as an internal member of the PM&C Audit and Risk Committee since November 2019.

Ms Anton’s experience and qualifications are as follows:

  • Ms Anton has experience in policy, program design and delivery and has served as the Chief Operating Officer of IP Australia.
  • She has served as the Interim National Data Commissioner since 9 August 2018. In this role she is charged with leading APS reforms to data sharing.
  • Ms Anton holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and Masters of Management (Industry Strategy) from the ANU. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.

Number of meetings attended/total number of meetings held

3/3

Member remuneration (excl. GST)

NA

Risk management

The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019–2020 bushfire season were unparalleled in terms of their scale and impact on the Department’s operations. They demonstrated the need for a robust risk management framework in this complex, evolving and dynamic environment.

The PM&C Risk Management Policy and Framework sets out the Department’s appetite, tolerance and approach for managing risk at both a strategic and an operational level. It provided guidance on assessing and managing risk in response to the purposes and priorities set out in the Corporate Plan and operational level risks that may affect the achievement of PM&C objectives. The Secretary and Executive Board endorsed the framework in May 2020. The framework assisted the Department to manage and respond to events effectively as they unfolded.

The Department manages three strategic risks:

  • The welfare of our people is not managed well.
  • We fail to deliver on the priorities of the Prime Minister and the Government, or on the critical enablers of government for which we are responsible.
  • Our advice to the Prime Minister and the Government is not of high quality or not delivered on time.

Our framework champions a positive risk culture and fosters a ‘no surprises’ approach to managing risk across PM&C. The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) promoted this culture through regular communications and participation in decision making as a member of the Executive Board. The CRO communicated through a regular column in the staff newsletter promoting and encouraging a healthy approach to managing risk at all levels of the organisation.

The Secretary and the Executive Board provided a strong governance mechanism to ensure risk was effectively incorporated and managed at a strategic level. The Executive Board was supported by the PM&C Audit and Risk Committee, which provided independent advice on the Department’s risks and the effectiveness of our controls. PM&C continued to improve its risk management by strengthening its business continuity framework, and work health and safety management system.

Climate risk

In 2019–20, the Secretaries Board, chaired by PM&C, circulated a direction statement that informed the Australian Public Service (APS) about its responsibilities for managing climate and disaster risk. The statement set out what is expected of the APS in managing climate and disaster risks where relevant in Australian Government operations, policies, programs and assets. It was analogous to the requirements that apply in the private sector. This statement was disseminated within PM&C and guided our approach to addressing climate and disaster risks relevant to our operations.

Complaints management

The Department maintained its commitment to improving our services, welcoming feedback from the community on how we can improve. Under our complaints handling policy, PM&C investigated complaints about the advice we provided, the services we delivered, the conduct of our staff and PM&C procurement activities under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018.

In 2019–20, we revised our complaints handling policy and procedures to ensure they complied with best-practice complaints handling procedures recommended by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, PM&C investigated 20 complaints in line with our complaints handling policy.

No complaints were received under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018.

Fraud prevention and control

No perceived or actual instances of fraud were identified within PM&C in 2019–20.

PM&C maintained a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption. We recognised that the national crises experienced during the last nine months could have presented new opportunities for fraudulent behaviour. PM&C participated in the Commonwealth Fraud Policy Working Group, an initiative run by the Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre in the Attorney-General’s Department. The group developed a national response to detecting and preventing fraud through knowledge sharing, collaboration and application of the latest strategies. This enabled PM&C to remain abreast of emerging fraud risks that are relevant to our operating environment space.

PM&C remained committed to preventing, detecting and responding to instances of real and suspected fraud by a staff member, contractor or those we partner with. Anyone who believed that a fraudulent activity had occurred within PM&C was encouraged to report the event via fraud@pmc.gov.au or our Fraud and Advice Hotline (02 6152 3598).

The Department’s approach to fraud detection and prevention was reinforced through online e-learning induction training for all new employees with biennial refresher training.