Defence Dept 'still needs to make financial reforms'
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The inquiry has found Defence is becoming more business-like in its acquisitions. (Department of Defence)
A federal parliamentary committee says it still has a number of concerns about the Defence Department's equipment acquisition and financial reporting programs.
The joint committee of public accounts and audit says its two-year inquiry has found the Department has made significant progress in improving its problems with financial management and is becoming more business-like in its acquisitions.
But the committee's chairwoman, Labor MP Sharon Grierson, says there still needs to be a greater level of transparency and a greater focus on measuring the impact of the changes.
"A lot of money has been invested into financial reforms, all sorts of reforms, but very little measurement of that is possible," she said.
"So we want to know if the culture is actually changing ... if those financial reforms and major investment into new financial training is delivering a greater and more effective organisation.
"We saw enough systemic difficulties to know that any project undertaken that is a major project - and we're talking $20 million plus and some of them of course are much bigger than that ... if those difficulties are surfacing then we do know that there needs to be accountability."
