The ANAO pays for itself and then some
Better known as the Truman Committee this body, which was tasked with auditing all aspects of US defence expenditure, was one of the most effective spends by any government, anywhere and at anytime.
During Truman's tenure, at a total cost of about $US360,000, the committee saved the US government an estimated $US15 billion. It also improved the quality of munitions and established the importance of rigorous, and frequent, audits of government expenditure beyond any possible doubt.
It is an unfortunate fact that left to their own devices politicians and bureaucrats are happy to spend other people's money with gay abandon. That inconvenient truth is the raison d'etre for one of the few true friends the Australian taxpayer (aka the little Aussie bleeder) has in Canberra - the Australian National Audit Office.
The ANAO, which is as old as federation, has done a sterling job for more than 120 years in searching for costly examples of waste, extravagance and just plain incompetence in government departments and agencies. And, like the Truman committee, it has paid for itself too many times over to count.
It's an obvious case of spending some money to save much, much more.
That's why it seems absurd that, yet again, the ANAO is facing "an issue" in regard to "sustainability of funding". Surely if there is one government agency that deserves to have its funding assured year in and year out for decades to come it is this one.
It is hard to fathom therefore why it has endured a long history of funding cycles in which a few years of plenty soon alternate with drought and famine.
The latest looming famine, identified in the ANAO's recent annual report, appears to be an unexpected consequence of excellent performance or, to put it another way, a textbook example of "no good deed goes unpunished".
Because the ANAO, whose reports are much loved by journalists as gifts that keep on giving, has been so effective the government wants it to do more. Its remit has also been extended to include another seven departments - a 50 per cent increase on its previous "to do" list.
The trouble is that despite being told by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit "the ANAO will require additional funding in future years if it is to meet both its legislative requirements and other outputs under the current framework" the Albanese government is yet to kick the tin.
This, given its unedifying record of caution since coming to office, may be because it doesn't want to announce an increase in public sector spending - no matter how minute - during times of economic uncertainty and a cost of living crisis.
One can only hope that this is not the case. The JCPAA report, which recommended the ANAO be exempt from the APS wide two per cent efficiency dividend, couldn't have been clearer.
"Saving small sums on the ANAO's budget only costs the government larger sums later on," it said.
Increasing funding to the ANAO is actually an easy sell. Australians aren't stupid and realise that an organisation specifically charged with reining in waste and inefficiency will save taxpayers money.
The extra level of accountability the ANAO provides also strengthens our democracy and increases the efficiency of government departments and agencies just by being there.
"The ANAO is one of the few friends the taxpayer has in Canberra."
Shlemon attempted to reduce millions of dollars in personal and business tax debts by paying Wenfeng Wei, who was a public servant working at the ATO.
In 2016, the offender handed a white plastic bag stuffed with $100,000 over to Wei at Granville railway station — this accounted for one count of bribery.
According to the NACC, the deal was for Wei to significantly underwrite an audit of Shlemon and a business linked to him by millions of dollars, as well as avoid tax penalties.
Toowoomba man Atem Gabriel Deng, 20, pleads guilty to more than $20,000 tax fraud
In a shortsighted attempt to escape growing debt, a young man stole tens of thousands from the Australian Government.
A young Toowoomba man has dug himself into a deeper hole of debt after a failed attempt to defraud the government of thousands of dollars.
Atem Gabriel Deng, 20, appearing in Toowoomba District Court, pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining a total of $28,577 from the Australian Taxation Office through fraudulent GST claims.
Prosecutor Sam Knight said Mr Deng, in March of 2022, registered a business under his own name despite having no legitimate reason to do so.
He said Mr Deng then lodged claims to obtain a GST refund, providing false sales information in the process.
“As a result of this fraudulent statement, the ATO provided the defendant with a GST refund of $14,293 to which he was not entitled,” Mr Knight said.
He added a further refund of $14,284 was awarded that same month in response to a second and identical claim.
Mr Deng’s barrister Tristan Carlos argued his client had committed the offences in a misguided attempt to pay off growing debts.
“He had become indebted to a number of friends at the time and (his offending) has been engaged in order to pay them,” Mr Carlos said.
“He feels badly about his conduct, he wants to make reparation.”
Judge Dennis Lynch KC condemned the actions, stating the effects of Mr Deng’s decision spread far.
“It is an offence committed against the wider Australian public,” he said.
“The tax system in this country relies upon citizens being honest.
“Your offending effectively takes money out of the general pool of resources available to the government to spend on behalf of the people of Australia.”
Mr Deng was formally charged with two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with immediate parole and placed on recognisance order for two years.
Additionally, he was ordered to pay reparations of $27,547.44 to the Commonwealth.
Blake Foden
The devastated brothers of a Sunday school teacher have shared their shock at the father-of-eight's "senseless death" in a house fire, and expressed hope there will be "justice for Bol" after a man was charged with his murder.
Kot Ador Deng, a 36-year-old man also known as Bol Ador Deng, died in the early hours of last Wednesday after a fire gutted his home in what is normally a quiet Canberra cul-de-sac .
Police allege another member of the local South Sudanese community, Atem Marol Deng, 38, deliberately lit the blaze with petrol following a weeks-long "dispute" between the pair.
The alleged killer was arrested at a home on Northbourne Ave, Canberra's busiest thoroughfare, during the execution of a search warrant on Thursday morning.
After a night in police custody, he faced the ACT Magistrates Court in a high-visibility yellow jumper, shorts and thongs.
He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to charges of murder and arson.
Several members of the alleged victim's family travelled to Canberra from Melbourne on Friday, when they addressed the media outside court.
Younger brother Akech Deng described the alleged murder victim as "a very wonderful person", who had lived in Canberra for 16 years.
"It's a very terrible situation for our family," he said.
"We cannot believe that we lost him that way. The other thing is that we did not believe that Bol was gone."
He also told reporters "we need justice for Bol".
"Bol is a father. He left the kids behind and no one deserves that. These kids don't deserve that," he said.
Older brother Kongor Deng said Bol had been a Sunday school teacher, builder and part-time university student who had worked "to support his beautiful kids".
"Bol means the world to us," he told reporters.
He said the family had been unable to breathe during the eight days between his brother's death and news of the alleged killer's arrest.
The alleged murder victim had five daughters and three sons, with the eldest of his children recently celebrating her 15th birthday.
Kongor Deng said those children would now have to grow up without a father.
"You can't imagine that feeling," he said.
A third brother, Deng Deng, said the 36-year-old's death had "shocked" his children, the wider family and Canberra's South Sudanese community.
He said he was unaware of any connection between his brother and the alleged killer, who was not a relative.
Detective Acting Superintendent Stephen Ladd earlier told reporters ACT Policing had identified the suspected killer by speaking to witnesses and canvassing CCTV footage from the area near the fire, which occurred in the northwest Canberra suburb of Holt.
He said a lot of physical evidence at the scene had been obliterated by the fire, which had "completely destroyed" the Giltinan Place home.
"Police will allege that, after a dispute between the men that had been ongoing over the past few weeks, the gentleman that's been charged went to the residence and set the fire deliberately," he said.
Detective Acting Superintendent Ladd was not prepared to divulge the nature of the dispute, but he said the alleged victim had lived in the Holt house for "a number of years" and was "known to police".
"The cause of death, as determined by the post-mortem, was asphyxiation or smoke inhalation from the fire," he said.
The 38-year-old alleged killer will now remain behind bars ahead of his next court appearance in August.
