Queensland Audit Office Phone 07 3149 6000 Level 14, 53 Albert Street, Brisbane Qld 4000 Email qao@qao.qld.gov.au PO Box 15396, City East Qld 4002 Web www.qao.qld.gov.au
Queensland Audit Office (QAO)
Your ref:
Our ref: PR02716
Paul Christensen
OFFICIAL
29 July 2022
The Honourable C Pitt MP
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
Parliament House
BRISBANE QLD 4000
Dear Mr Speaker
Erratum to the Auditor-General of Queensland: Report to Parliament No. 17 2021–22 Appointing
and renewing government boards
The purpose of this erratum is to correct information contained in 5 pages of Appointing and renewing government boards (Report 17: 2021–22), tabled 19th May 2022.
Within Appendix D, we have corrected financial information disclosed for the following entities:
• Board of the Queensland Museum
• Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service
• Central West Hospital and Health Service
• Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
• Queensland Rail
• Queensland Treasury Corporation State Investment Advisory Board
• The Council of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (trading as QIMR Berghofer)
We also corrected the amounts reported for total revenue and total assets included in Figure D2, and the combined assets on the Report on a page.
The correct pages are attached and should replace pages 1, 42, 43, 44 and 45 respectively.
In accordance with s.67 of the Act, would you please arrange for the erratum to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
Yours sincerely
Karen Johnson Acting Auditor-General
• Queensland • • Audit Office
Better public services
1
Report on a page
There are 50 large Queensland government entities delivering energy, health, ports, water, and rail
services. They have combined assets of $266 billion, and their boards are intended to provide strategic
direction and ensure their organisations conduct themselves in an accountable and transparent manner.
The processes currently used to appoint and renew Queensland government board members are not
effectively identifying the skills needed or appointing people within a reasonable time frame.
The Department of the Premier and Cabinet provides guidance to ministers and to the departments
responsible for the boards. This guidance was developed 12 years ago and needs to be updated.
Boards benefit from having members with diverse qualifications and experience. While more than half of
the directors on government boards are women, data is not readily available on, for example, how many
members are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or are people with disability.
In this report, we have focused on the board recruitment processes of the 4 departments that are
responsible for the largest government boards. At present, several issues are making it difficult for them
to ensure suitable candidates are appointed to the boards in a timely way.
The right skills and fair remuneration
Some issues relate to attracting people with the right skills. For example, departments are generally not
systematically consulting their boards to identify skills gaps before recruiting. The Department of Health is
the exception, having worked with its boards to develop a matrix of necessary skills. Boards are well
aware of some of the skills they need – including board governance skills. At present, only one-third of
directors have completed a board governance course.
The widest field of applicants is not always sought. For example, Queensland Treasury does not broadly
advertise vacancies for its government owned corporation boards. This narrows the field of applicants, it
can give the impression that appointees are not independent, and it is not in line with better practice as
advised by the Australian Institute of Company Directors and others.
Also, there has been no change to remuneration rates for directors on government boards for 7 years,
which again narrows the field of skilled applicants.
A reasonable time frame
Other issues relate to long time frames. No guidance is currently available to departments on this, and it
often takes 12 months to fill board vacancies. Candidates wait an average of 6 months to find out if they
have been successful, and most find out only when the outcome is publicly announced. This risks
preferred candidates choosing to go elsewhere.
In some cases, vacancies on the boards of government owned corporations have gone unfilled for up to
2 years. At times, boards of statutory bodies have not had enough active members to make decisions.
Departments need to check the claims of candidates. This is an important step that must be done quickly
so as not to hold up the process. While all 4 departments conduct checks, only the Department of Health
confirms academic qualifications. This means there is a risk that unsuitable candidates are being
appointed. Also, candidates are not currently able to check for potential conflicts of interest until they join
a board, when it may be too late.
Recommendation
We recommend the Department of the Premier and Cabinet works with Queensland Treasury and
relevant departments to develop an overarching framework to bring the recruitment process for boards in
line with better practice. This will ensure recruitment is driven by the board, is timely, and fairly
remunerates members for their contribution.
• • ••
42
Figure D2
Boards of large government entities –
revenue and assets for the 2021 financial year
Body name Department
responsible
Revenue
($’000)
Net
operating
result
($’000)
Total
assets
($’000)
Government owned corporations
CleanCo Queensland Limited Queensland
Treasury
253,615 (15,917) 464,674
CS Energy Limited Queensland
Treasury
1,084,883 (266,135) 1,862,062
Energy Queensland Limited Queensland
Treasury
4,906,000 302,000 26,754,000
Far North Queensland Ports Corporation
Limited (trading as Ports North)
Queensland
Treasury
48,610 (6,179) 408,232
Gladstone Ports Corporation Limited Queensland
Treasury
516,592 93,462 2,480,954
North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation
Limited
Queensland
Treasury
117,904 15,897 812,987
Port of Townsville Ltd Queensland
Treasury
77,171 14,327 883,143
QIC Limited Queensland
Treasury
532,302 71,560 501,742
Queensland Electricity Transmission
Corporation Limited (trading as Powerlink
Queensland)
Queensland
Treasury
985,208 86,969 8,307,647
Stanwell Corporation Limited Queensland
Treasury
2,735,632 375,437 3,555,278
Sunwater Limited Queensland
Treasury
475,073 39,026 1,115,277
Statutory bodies
Board of the Queensland Museum Department of
Communities,
Housing and
Digital Economy
52,858 (2,456) 731,022
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health
Service
Queensland Health 1,110,558 28 922,964
Central Queensland Hospital and Health
Service
Queensland Health 698,395 (2,701) 469,714
Central West Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 92,900 145 106,134
• •• •
43
Body name Department
responsible
Revenue
($’000)
Net
operating
result
($’000)
Total
assets
($’000)
Children's Health Queensland Hospital and
Health Service
Queensland Health 923,881 2,908 1,182,972
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 945,504 10,626 543,038
Gladstone Area Water Board Department of
Regional
Development,
Manufacturing and
Water
69,847 12,368 752,473
Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 1,808,003 10,634 1,785,298
Gold Coast Waterways Authority Department of
Transport and
Main Roads
23,302 8,831 221,952
Legal Aid Queensland Department of
Justice and
Attorney-General
165,064 9,800 115,500
Library Board of Queensland Department of
Communities,
Housing and
Digital Economy
79,873 996 158,923
Mackay Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 529,998 3,329 419,041
Metro North Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 3,380,369 11,703 2,496,065
Metro South Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 2,773,105 1,052 1,471,404
Mount Isa Water Board Department of
Regional
Development,
Manufacturing and
Water
27,224 6,109 174,291
North West Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 206,702 366 130,861
Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Department of
Communities,
Housing and
Digital Economy
75,116 12,998 632,327
Queensland Building and Construction
Commission
Department of
Energy and Public
Works
303,315 61,160 561,609
Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority
(trading as Seqwater)
Queensland
Treasury
1,039,195 12,596 11,738,627
Queensland Curriculum and Assessment
Authority
Department of
Education
88,088 9,809 47,020
• • ••
44
Body name Department
responsible
Revenue
($’000)
Net
operating
result
($’000)
Total
assets
($’000)
Queensland Performing Arts Trust Department of
Communities,
Housing and
Digital Economy
53,531 2,347 35,292
Queensland Rail Queensland
Treasury
2,222,607 186,464 8,336,785
Queensland Reconstruction Authority Department of
State
Development,
Infrastructure,
Local Government
and Planning
704,337 (7,873) 42,489
Queensland Rural and Industry
Development Authority
Department of
Agriculture and
Fisheries
293,265 70,138 1,445,287
Queensland Treasury Corporation Capital
Markets Board
Queensland
Treasury
203,416 115,651 131,742,729
Queensland Treasury Corporation State
Investment Advisory Board
Queensland
Treasury
4,676,076 – 37,814,711
Residential Tenancies Authority Department of
Communities,
Housing and
Digital Economy
70,357 35,297 1,018,982
South Bank Corporation Department of
State
Development,
Infrastructure,
Local Government
and Planning
55,873 (10,983) 817,405
South West Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 179,052 5,692 262,512
Stadiums Queensland Department of
Tourism,
Innovation and
Sport
118,998 (55,495) 1,589,912
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 1,355,175 (21,282) 1,979,926
TAFE Queensland Department of
Employment,
Small Business
and Training
668,102 2,225 434,816
The Council of the Queensland Institute of
Medical Research (trading as QIMR
Berghofer)
Queensland Health 151,070 32,190 516,954
• •• •
45
Body name Department
responsible
Revenue
($’000)
Net
operating
result
($’000)
Total
assets
($’000)
Torres and Cape Hospital and Health
Service
Queensland Health 262,248 2,329 261,155
Tourism and Events Queensland Department of
Tourism,
Innovation and
Sport
145,630 (1,242) 27,343
Townsville Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 1,135,454 4,475 915,312
West Moreton Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 747,544 1,005 315,627
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Queensland Health 716,898 3,083 367,416
Workcover Queensland Department of
Education
2,479,458 110,828 6,170,201
Total 42,365,378 1,355,597 265,902,085
Note: Revenue for the Queensland Treasury Corporation Capital Markets Board includes the net gain on financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss for consistency of presentation with other entities.
Source: Queensland Audit Office, from Tri-data – whole-of-government financial reporting information and the entities’ audited financial statements.
• • ••