The ACT Party strongly supports the Auditor-General’s call for robust audit guidelines for government departments contracting arrangements with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“The Office of the Controller and Auditor-General needs to devote resources to this task immediately given that the coalition will be spending millions on co-purchasing in the upcoming Budget,” ACT leader Richard Prebble said.

“New Zealand is behind its peers when it comes to having best practice audit guidelines for government contracting with outside organisations. Australia’s audit office has a raft of guidelines on dealing with NGOs, and Canada also has a robust regime.

“ACT will be pursuing this issue with vigour in Parliament. The new government has announced its intention to enter what it calls “co-purchasing” agreements with community groups. It is ACT’s belief that community groups do have much to offer but there does need to be transparency and clear lines of accountability,” Mr Prebble said.
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