Audits point to the way ahead

Audit commissions do not, however, always get their way. The Court West Australian government quietly parked many of its commission's proposals in the too-hard basket, as did the Howard government in relation to recommendations to hand over areas of policy to the states. The Newman government eschewed its commission's proposals about privatisation for want of a mandate.

Abbott has promised "a once-in-a-generation commission of audit so that government is only as big as it needs to be to do what people can't do for themselves." This is an alien ideology to the minds of his Labor critics.

A commission of audit can serve a legitimate role, identifying priorities, providing policy coherence and promoting policy innovation.

The success of a future commission of audit will only partly depend on the quality of its membership, appropriate terms of reference and adequate resources.

Its real success will depend on whether an Abbott government has the political will and policy compass to confront its sins of opposition, its campaign omissions and its smalltarget-policy strategy, so that it is able to address the issues that matter, which a commission should identify.