Auditor-General’s Report done

The Controller and Auditor-General has announced he has completed his report on on his inquiry into advertising expenditure in the three months before the 2005 General Election.

However it will now be released on Thursday instead of Tuesday. The reason for this is to allow the Speaker’s response to the report to be tabled at the same time.

The news does not look good for Labour. Their last desperate attempt to avoid repayment had been to ask Kevin Brady to only report his findings in his role as Auditor-General and not in his role as Controller which necessitates the Vote Minister reporting the breach to Parliament. The announcement today says:

The Auditor-General Kevin Brady has decided to exercise his powers under the Controller function to direct the Speaker of the House of Representatives (the Speaker) to report to Parliament.

Oh Thursday is going to be a fascinating day.