In Environment Environment The

 ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 41  managing and protecting existing biodiverse carbon stores in high conservation value areas; and  supporting actions that prevent the spread of invasive species across connected landscapes. 48

2.20 The

department’s 2013–14 Annual Report subsequently reported against this KPI, stating that under the Biodiversity Fund program 22 major projects were supported to achieve these objectives. 49

2.21 The

most recent PBS 2014–15 also included an additional Biodiversity Fund program KPI: An increase in condition and extent of native vegetation in project areas, from baseline reported in July 2014 to July 2015. 50

2.22 In

November 2014, the department informed the ANAO that progress against this indicator would not be reported until the 2015–16 Annual Report, as the varying timeframes for grant recipients to supply monitoring data meant that a full data set to underpin the reporting would not be available for the 2014–15 Annual Report.

2.23 Environment’s

establishment of the MERI Framework to collect project data to inform ongoing monitoring and reporting of the Biodiversity Fund program’s overall performance is discussed in the following section. Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement MERI Framework

2.24 Over

several decades, successive Australian Governments have implemented large‐scale natural resource management programs that have, cumulatively, involved the expenditure of billions in taxpayer dollars. Historically, there has been a lack of information about the overall program ‐level achievement of the stated objectives for these programs. The need to develop and implement a suitable performance framework that 48 Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Portfolio Budget Statements 2012–13, op. cit., pp. 39–42. 49 Department of the Environment, Annual Report 2013–14, Canberra, Australia, p. 32. 50 Department of the Environment, Portfolio Budget Statements 2014–15, Program 1.3 Key Performance Indicators—Biodiversity Fund program, p. 50. ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 42 provides meaningful information to assess the success or otherwise of natural resource programs has been a matter raised in ANAO audits for over a decade. 51

2.25 Since

2009, Environment and the Department of Agriculture have been working