AUDITOR-General Michael Harris has put a blowtorch to the ACT government’s implementation of a $77.63 million HR program describing it as a “significant failure” for the territory.

In an excoriating report, he said every aspect, including its planning, governance and administration and management arrangements were characterised by multiple failures at all levels.

Special Minister of State Chris Steel is the responsible minister. Opposition spokesman Peter Cain said: “The auditor-general’s report confirms everything that we had suspected about the HRIMS
Program and the utter incompetence of the Special Minister of State.”

“It is mind-boggling that the minister responsible has not only faced no repercussions for
this waste and mismanagement, but has been granted a promotion in the chief minister’s
recent reshuffle.”

The auditor’s report on the Human Resources Information Management System (HRIMS) Program was presented to the speaker on Friday for tabling in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Mr Harris said as part of the 2017-18 ACT Budget $15 million was approved for the design and implementation of a new whole-of-government HRIM. By June this year, when work on the HRIMS Program stopped, at least $77.63 million had been spent with only one module, the Learning Management System, being delivered.

The audit considered the effectiveness of the planning for, and management of, the HRIMS Program. and found that the ACT government failed to account for the complexities of the ACT Public Service industrial relations environment when developing and implementing the HRIMS Program.

A key feature of the HRIMS Program was the harmonisation of HR management and payroll processes across the ACT Public Service. This was never achieved, and the territory never reached a point where it had a clearly defined, complete and accurate business model that was supported by directorate and agency stakeholders.

The audit also found that program governance and administrative arrangements and program
monitoring and assurance arrangements were poor as was the planning for, and management of, the contract with EY as the implementation partner.

Mr Harris said: “The HRIMS Program was a significant failure for the Territory, with every aspect
including its planning, governance and administration and management arrangements characterised by multiple failures at all levels”.

The audit report makes one recommendation for the ACT Government to develop, and table in the
ACT Legislative Assembly, a comprehensive plan that details the actions to be taken by the Territory to address the failures identified in the report.

“The Labor-Greens government have continuously underplayed the magnitude of this issue,
and yet, the auditor-general found that ‘every aspect of the HRIMS Program […] was
characterised by multiple failures at all levels’,” said Caine.