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prior to the commencement of the caretaker period as was possible. The
department also sought advice from the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet PMC regarding the execution of the outstanding funding
agreements. On the basis of PMC advice, the department proceeded to execute
funding agreements that had been returned within the nominated timeframe.
6.8 Environment
informed the ANAO that, following the Federal Election, a
briefing was provided to the incoming Minister regarding the outstanding non
‐executed funding agreements for previously approved Biodiversity Fund
program projects. There were three outstanding Round 2 projects and one
outstanding NATI project, where proponents had not returned executed funding
agreements to the department within the nominated period, with a total
value of 5.87 million. The Minister decided not to proceed with executing
the outstanding funding agreements and wrote to each applicant advising
them of his decision. Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round
6.9 The
Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round was being concluded at
a similar time as the NATI and Round 2 funding rounds. The brief to the Minister
recommending the approval of five projects under the Investing in Tasmania’s
Native Forests round was approved by the Minister on 18 July 2013. While
Environment informed the ANAO that, on the date of approval, the department
sought the Minister’s approval to announce the successful applicants
in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round and to provide them
with funding agreements, this approval was not given. Nonetheless, on 26
July 2013 the Minister’s office provided Environment with signed copies of letters
to the five successful applicants advising them of the outcome. The ANAO
was advised that the department’s usual practice was to wait for the Minister
to formally announce the outcomes of a grants selection process, and for
the Minister to agree to the letters being dispatched to approved applicants. The
letters to approved applicants in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round
were not, however, sent by the department.
122
6.10 The
department informed the ANAO that funding agreements were not
provided to approved applicants under the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests
round due to broader matters relating to Biodiversity Fund program
122 The department did, however, inadvertently publish for a short period of time the list of successful applicants on its website.
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funding that were under consideration by the Government at the time.
However, this decision was in contrast with the department’s treatment of
successful Round 2 applicants who were afforded the opportunity to execute
funding agreements during the same period of time. Successful Round 2
applicants that had been approved for funding by the Minister on
19 July 2013 were advised by an email on 31 July 2013 of their success and
provided with funding agreements for signature—allowing those applicants
that returned their funding agreement within the 14‐day time period to receive
funding for their projects.
123
6.11 While
the records retained by Environment do not demonstrate the basis
for this differential treatment, the department has advised that it received verbal
approval from the Minister’s office to send notification letters for Round
2, but not for the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests Round.
6.12 As
outlined earlier, the caretaker period for the 2013 Federal Election commenced
on 5 August 2013 and, therefore, under the usual caretaker conventions,
funding agreements were not provided to the five approved Investing
in Tasmanian Native Forests round projects during that period. As part
of the briefing to the new Minister as outlined above, the department advised
that there were five approved applicants for this round without executed
funding agreements in place with a total value of 3.84 million. As with
the outstanding Round 2 and NATI projects, the Minister decided not to proceed
with these projects.
6.13 A
number of stakeholders consulted by the ANAO raised questions as to
why none of the projects that were approved in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native
Forests round received funding. Ultimately, the incoming Government decided
not to proceed with the funding of those approved projects that did not
have endorsed funding agreements in place, including all approved projects
in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round. As mentioned earlier,
the records retained by Environment do not demonstrate why successful
applicants in Round 2 were provided with funding agreements by Environment
shortly after the Minister’s approval of funding, but approved applicants
in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round were not. Improved
documentation of the circumstances underpinning the department’s
123 The Minister’s office had emailed signed copies of letters to the successful Round 2 applicants to Environment on 26 July 2013—the same day it had also provided letters for the successful applicants
in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round.
