The Finocchiaro CLP Government’s continued refusal to improve oversight of its spending by strengthening the Auditor-General’s independence, powers and resourcing has led to a “significant gap in public accountability”, the Centre for Public Integrity says, and could lead to further systemic misuse of public funds going undetected.

The statement follows the 2025 Report on the Independence of Auditors General, which ranked the NT Auditor-General in last place for independence, behind Papua New Guinea, Fiji and every other Australian jurisdiction.

Chair of the Centre for Public Integrity Anthony Whealy said on Thursday that the alarming report should be a “wake-up call for the Northern Territory Government, Parliament and the community”.

“The findings expose serious and longstanding weaknesses in the Territory’s accountability framework and underscore the urgent need to strengthen the independence, powers and resourcing of the Auditor-General,” Mr Whealy said.

“If we want credible oversight of public spending, the Auditor-General must be genuinely independent, properly resourced, and empowered to fulfil its mandate.”

NT Auditor-General Jara Dean said last week that the “vulnerabilities” identified in the report around his autonomy and inability to exercise a broad audit mandate has directly undermined “the integrity and effectiveness of the public sector audit function in the Territory”.

He called for a full rewrite of the Audit Act to ensure his office had performance audit powers – essential for assessing whether government programs were operating effectively.

But Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has previously declined to provide that level of independence to his office and said last week her government would “review the report and recommendations” but made no commitments. She also pointed to the new Integrity and Ethics Commission improving “integrity functions” and “frameworks”, without providing any evidence.

Mr Dean has previously raised concerns with the Chief Minister that the new body will in fact “weaken” the independence of his role.

Mr Whealy said the Centre for Public Integrity “strongly supports” Mr Dean’s work and his position, adding that a “properly resourced Auditor-General must be a central pillar of any credible integrity framework in the Northern Territory”.

“In particular, the ability of Auditors-General to undertake performance audits are an essential tool of modern public administration,” he said.

“In other Australian jurisdictions, performance audits have been central to uncovering systemic misuse of public funds, exposing waste and inefficiency, and driving improvements in government programs and service delivery.

“The absence of statutorily guaranteed performance audit powers in the Northern Territory leaves a significant gap in public accountability and weakens parliamentary oversight.”

The Centre for Public Integrity reiterated its calls for Auditors General to have genuine independence from the executive branch of government; to be adequately and stably resourced; be given performance audit and ‘follow-the-dollar’ powers; and have the capacity to directly report to Parliament.

Calls for ‘independent, transparent and comprehensive’ review of NT accountability frameworks to restore trust

The CPI acknowledged a nationwide trend of not funding government oversight bodies adequately and called for a proper and comprehensive review of “accountability safeguards in the Territory”.

“Properly funding audit offices is not a luxury in times of economic pressure,” said CPI executive director Catherine Williams.

“On the contrary, these institutions play a vital role in ensuring public money is well spent, value for money is achieved, and waste and mismanagement are identified before they become entrenched.”

Ms Williams added that public confidence and effective oversight of “government power and public spending” could only be restored following the comprehensive review.

Last November, the Auditor-General’s review of the Treasurer’s annual financial report, showed that despite claims from the CLP that the previous Labor government had “left us with a $15 billion debt”, the net debt while still at a record high, was below $12 billion when Labor was voted out last August.

The CLP’s $886 million deficit last financial year was higher than the previous year under Labor, and the CLP’s borrowings of $1.2 billion brought the debt to $12 billion at the end of the 2024-25 financial year, according to the Auditor-General.

Last May, Ms Finocchairo announced changes to the Auditor-General’s duties without informing Mr Dean about those changes. She said transferring responsibility for enforcing breaches of the Public Information Act from the Auditor-General’s Office to the Ombudsman was in response to an independent review, however the review of Mr Dean’s office identified the risks to the office’s independence and a lack of stable funding, which her government ignored.

That review also found that an ongoing funding shortfall forced Mr Dean to remove three government departments from planned audits last financial year.