The new governance committee of the National Fire Ant Program, the National Management Group, created in February 2024, continues the practice of mis-reporting the progress of the program.
In March 2003, as Senior Policy Officer in the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, I made a public interest disclosure to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) that the program was misreporting it success to the public and national funders by over-stating it success and not reporting serious issues threatening it. This was because the program has never had a functioning information system and never collected reliable and consistent performance data. The CMC changed the terms of my disclosure, found no substance to it, and dismissed it. So every governance committee of the program has mis-reported the program’s progress, including the new National Management Group, appointed in February 2024.
Independent reviews of the program have consistently complained about the program’s lack of performance data or measures of its effectiveness.
In October 2003, the program auditor reported, ‘The scarcity of performance measures against outcomes prevents a more objective evaluation of operational efficiency…. (with regard to) indicators of program and function area efficiency, there was no measure of respective effort or cost associated with key outcomes.’
In 2013, the auditor said program reports were just ‘narratives’ that did not report against a set of specific, measurable and fit-for-purpose performance indicators of key aspects of the program and did not provide trend analyses, making it difficult for the oversight committees to track the progress of the program, or any robust cost-benefit/return on investment analysis to enable the oversight committees to assess the benefits of any program initiatives and to decide if they should proceed.’
The auditor was concerned that ‘without complete, clear and accurate information to support decision making, governance committees may be unable to provide appropriate oversight and guidance to the program as required, leading to an increased risk of inappropriate decisions being made, or undue delays in the decision-making process or difficulties in being able to critically examine the performance of the program.’ And further ‘without fit-for-purpose performance measures and target benefits, including appropriate tracking of project benefits to realisation, there is a risk that the expected value of a project may not be achieved or that the program may be unable to demonstrate due care has been taken in utilising public money.’ The governance committee did not commission another audit of the program until 2019.
In 2015, the independent review of Biosecurity Queensland, the agency implementing the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, noted that Biosecurity Queensland creates funding problems for itself because it cannot mount credible cases for on-going funding because it does not collect performance data and analyse it to show how it has and will use funds and staffing to best effect.
In March 2017 the Queensland Audit Office reported that Biosecurity Queensland could not report on program effectiveness or efficiency because it did not have a functioning information system and did not collect data on specific, measurable performance indicators.
In December 2018, the program’s Risk Management Sub-committee said the program’s lack of any accurate performance data, poor operations and poor governance by the oversight committee posed extreme risks to the program.
In 2019, the auditor noted the program’s lack of any outcome focussed performance indicators and the lack of an information system to provide data to support decision making. The auditor said while there had been major changes to the program, Consultative Committee had not produced a long-term plan and did not have a set of outcomes focussed performance indicators, because the program did not have a functioning information system and did not collect reliable performance data.
In July 2023 the Queensland Audit Office questioned the ability of the program’s information system to collect data on specific, measurable program performance indicators.
In its first Communique on, 22nd February 2024, the new National Management Group continues the practice of mis-reporting the progress of the Fire Ant Program by not reporting the program’s progress against a set of specific, measurable and fit-for-purpose performance indicators of key aspects of the program, or the result of any robust cost-benefit/return on investment analysis of program initiatives because the program has never had a functioning information system and never collected reliable and consistent performance data. It simply continues the practice of providing ‘narratives.’
On 22nd February, the new National Management Group reported:
• The NMG recognised the significant ongoing efforts by the Program to eradicate fire ants from Australia under the new Response Plan 2023–2027.’
No data on ‘on going efforts’ or measures of their effectiveness.
• ‘It was updated on the ongoing cross-border actions to manage fire ant detections in…. northern NSW.’
No details on program changes or measure of their effectiveness.
• ‘Responses for each site have been developed in accordance with the Program’s standard operating procedures and are being implemented.’
No measure of the effectiveness of the Program’s standard operating procedures, assessed by the Program’s Risk Management Committee in 2018 as poor.
• The NMG also noted the substantial amount of work the Program has completed to bring the Program back on track following the recent extraordinary wet weather events in South East Queensland.’
No details of that work or any measure of its effectiveness.
• ‘The NMG was provided with an overview of the work undertaken by the Program to increase fire ant compliance capability as a key deliverable as outlined in the Fire Ant Response Plan 2023-27.’
No details of that work or any measures of its effectiveness.
• ‘Recognising the importance of curbing human assisted movement as part of eradication efforts, recruitment of additional compliance officers in the Program is underway and will increase the size of the compliance team four-fold.’
No data to support the decision for a four-fold (or ten fold?) increase in compliance officers.
• The NMG noted the work undertaken by the Program to address and implement recommendations from the 2021 Strategic Review of the Program.
No data on that work or any measures of its effectiveness.
Governance of the National Fire Ant Program since 2001 has seen the fire ant infestation blow out from 40,000ha in 2001 to 800,000+ha in 2023 and the budget blow out from $123.4m to ~$1b. The new Governance Committee is on track to produce more of the same.
25th March 2024