Purchase Cards

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (15:31): I rise today to talk about another of my explorations through the Auditor-General's Report. As I have traversed government documents in my role as an avowed member of the Waste Watch Committee, the more I delve into government business and government spending the more I realise that the waste we see from this government is cultural—it is endemic and it is cultural.

Indeed, at certain times I feel there is a sense of entitlement by the government across all spectrums when it comes to spending hard-earned taxpayer money. From my experience, I know how hard money is to earn and how responsibly it is given over to the government, and I feel it is incumbent on the government to return that sense of responsibility with its own sense of responsibility.

What I want to talk about today is the pervasive culture that obviously exists within government departments and the use of purchase cards. I could forgive if the Auditor-General highlighted one or two complaints in one or two departments, but the Auditor-General has made complaints against five separate government departments when it comes to the use of purchase cards, and there are a number of them I would like to put on the record.

The first government department on the list that may need to look into some purchase card practices is the Environment Protection Authority. The Auditor-General noted the splitting of transactions to comply with authorised transaction limits and certain expenditure being put onto purchase cards for goods and services that is not allowed by EPA policy. That is the first example I see where the culture of waste and misuse of government funds comes to the fore.

The second department, the Department for Education and Child Development, has a litany of examples where matters were raised by the Auditor-General in relation to purchase cards, instances where supporting documentation was not available to substantiate purchase card expenditure. I would have thought it was pretty front and centre and pretty straightforward that when you spent money on a government credit card you kept the receipt.

There is no evidence that purchase card holders' monthly credit limits are reviewed regularly, as required by Treasurer's Instruction No. 12. There were instances of incorrect coding of GST and instances where documentation to approve intrastate travel expense on purchase cards had been approved subsequent to travel, or had not been approved or could not be located. There were instances where documentation approving entertainment costs expensed on purchase cards was not complete or approved. There were also instances where card holders had not certified the correctness of their purchase card charges and instances where purchase cards of terminated employees were not deactivated on a timely basis.

Within the Department for Education and Child Development there needs to be a serious review, and the responses the department gave to the Auditor-General were such, 'We will continue to remind our staff that they need to comply with the requirements,' as if something as basic as keeping a credit card receipt were not fundamental and basic enough already.

The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, again, had instances of splitting transactions to comply with authorised transaction limits, which basically says, 'Well, I've got a $1,000 cap, but if we go 600 bucks each on this we'll be able to get away with it.' Also prior written approval required for some transactions, gifts and entertainment was not obtained. There is the idea that somehow these purchase cards are the plaything of departmental staff and that hard-earned taxpayer money is an entitlement for departments to spend.

The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, again, had quite a number of instances where cardholders had not certified a significant number of purchase card charges for a considerable time period, and a significant number of transactions had not been independently reviewed and approved in accordance with departmental policy. Documentation to support expenditure charged to purchase cards was not always provided or was not maintained. Again, keep your credit card receipts.

There were a number of instances where the documentation attached to support purchase card charges was insufficient and instances where former employees of the department did not have their purchase card cancelled. TAFE SA had issues where purchase cards were not always used for purposes allowed by TAFE SA procedures.

This culture of waste is becoming more and more pervasive and it comes from the top. I think that any cultural change, any cultural direction, comes from the top, and I think that ministers need to be held responsible for what is obviously endemic and cultural misuse of purchase cards within this government.