Our Accountability
Objectives
- Ensure clear stakeholder understanding of our roles.
- Achieve best practice in our corporate governance arrangements.
- Establish and maintain a clear understanding of our responsibilities and accountabilities in delivering statutory obligations.
Performance
- Level of compliance with statutory and other external reporting requirements.
- Extent to which our management reporting and planning processes track progress against agency priorities.
- Effectiveness of cooperation between ourselves and our jurisdictional partners.
Highlights
- Met the reporting requirements of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 and Section 152 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991.
- Received ‘satisfactory’ response from the Parliamentary Secretary on the quality and timeliness of our briefings and advice.
- Received ‘Comprehensive’ ranking in the Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey 2009, placing FSANZ in the top quartile of risk management performance in the Australian Government arena.
- Achieved administrative savings of $200,000 a year (ongoing).
- Developed a new C orporate Plan for the period 2009-12.
- Completed a framework for business continuity management in the event of unforeseen and catastrophic circumstances.
Overview
Effective accountability depends as much on the quality of the planning capability and business systems of an organisation as on its performance reporting.
Prior to each Federal Budget, FSANZ provides the Australian Government with proposed strategic directions for the next year. These responsibilities are described in the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991.The proposed strategic directions and supporting activities appear in the annual Portfolio Budget Statements for the health and ageing portfolio.
Our annual report contains an account of FSANZ’s expenditure of public funds on the activities described in the Portfolio Budget Statements. In addition, we provide information on the outputs and outcomes that contribute to our overall performance as a national food regulator.
As part of its governance responsibilities, the FSANZ Board determines the long-term goals for the agency, the more immediate strategic directions and the criteria that we use to assess our performance.
These objectives and performance measures underpin the agency’s ability to demonstrate compliance with statutory responsibilities – financial and non financial – and to assure consumers, the food industry, our regulatory partners and other stakeholders (including the Australian Parliament) that we discharge those responsibilities in a professional and objective manner.
At the agency level, we are guided by the Corporate Plan. The Corporate Plan identifies the main reporting areas for FSANZ’s work, as well as agency goals.
At an operational level, the planning process addresses corporate risk such as fraud, risks posed by an innovative food industry, and emerging food safety risks to the food supply. For example, is the industry about to unveil a new food production technology? Are there pathogens or contaminants in overseas food markets that have the potential to enter Australia or New Zealand?
Because we cannot plan in detail for such eventualities, we need to ensure that our processes are sufficiently robust to accommodate such challenges and that our staffing regime has the flexibility to form project teams with the necessary skills to provide expert advice when required.
Business systems such as financial management, business continuity planning, asset control and record keeping also play a significant role in enabling us to account for our performance. During the year, for example, we used the results of detailed time recording of activities by staff to generate information for our funding discussions with the New Zealand Government.
In our Corporate Plan, the Board has identified a goal of ensuring ‘clear stakeholder understanding of our roles’. This aspect of accountability was discussed earlier in the section Our Stakeholders. It has to do with expectations and perceptions. Without an accurate understanding of what FSANZ is supposed to do, how can stakeholders judge our performance?
Closer working relationships with jurisdictions, in particular, are proving beneficial in clarifying our role and generating an informed appreciation for our capabilities.
For example, the National Food Incident Response Protocol has provided the agency with opportunities to work collaboratively with enforcement agencies on risk assessments, risk management and risk communication. Another example has been the collaborative work between FSANZ and the Implementation Sub Committee to produce food standards and implementation plans simultaneously, instead of in sequence. This has required a thorough understanding of the roles of all participating parties.
In conclusion, therefore, we have sought to improve our accountability on a broad front during the year. We value our reputation as a transparent organisation. This annual report is but one link in the transparency chain.
Annual Report Home | 
Organisational structure | 
Our roles and priorites