An audit of the state’s $17.2 billion pandemic response and recovery programs has found mixed results, unclear outcomes and lacklustre monitoring.
Elements of Queensland’s $17.2 billion COVID-19 economic package were underutilised or double-dipped, with unclear outcomes and lacklustre monitoring around their effective use, a state audit office report has found.
A separate one-off $1500 hardship payment scheme gave only $7500 to three people between its launch in June 2020 and the directing of those infected and without access to sick leave into a similar federal program four months later, despite a $1 million funding allocation.After an initial review of the government’s programs in late 2020, the audit office took a closer look and examined six programs with funding totalling $3.7 billion — $2.7 billion of which had been spent by the end of 2021.
“They spent four times more on self-promotion than vaccine promotion,” Janetzki said. Comment has been sought from the government. The report found eligibility for programs was generally applied consistently across the reviewed programs. However, $4 million worth of small business adaption grants were given to businesses with payrolls of more than $1.3 million. These had access to payroll tax relief and should not have been eligible unless the claims were made before the threshhold was crossed.
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