Financial Management
The Audit Act 2001 requires ASNO to submit an annual Financial Statement to the Auditor-General. As ASNO is funded as a division of DFAT, this financial statement is published in the DFAT Annual Report. Further details of ASNO activities relating to financial management and performance are also contained in the DFAT Annual Report.
Administrative Budget
Operational running costs (general) reduced by $177,000 due to the impact of COVID–19 which restricted travel and led to the postponement of plans to host a meeting of the International Partnership on Nuclear Disarmament Verification event in Sydney during the year. The figure in Table 22 reflects the reduced amount.
| Salaries | 2,509,272 | 2,280,254 |
| Running Costs | ||
| (General) | 379,447 | 247,228 |
| Seismic monitoring1 | 558,794 | 558,204 |
| Sub-Total | 938,241 | 805,432 |
| Total | $3,447,513 | $3,085,686 |
Regulatory Reform
As a portfolio regulator within DFAT, in 2020–21 ASNO completed its sixth year of participation in the Government's Regulator Performance Framework.2 The Government developed the Framework to measure the performance of regulators in regard to reducing the cost to businesses. The goal of the program is to measure and report performance that will give businesses, the community, and individuals confidence that regulators manage risk effectively and flexibly.
The Framework consists of six mandatory outcome-based key performance indicators (KPIs) covering reduction in regulatory burden, communications, risk-based and proportionate approaches, efficient and coordinated monitoring, transparency, and continuous improvement. ASNO has identified seven metrics against the six KPIs outlined in Table 23 below.
In the future, Regulatory Performance reporting will be undertaken in line with a principles-based approach to regulatory performance.3
| Timely processing of permit applications and approvals. |
| Regulations and permit conditions are reviewed for clarity and suitability. |
| Implement risk-informed regulatory program. |
| Establish streamlined compliance and inspection processes. |
| Outreach activities conducted to communicate regulatory requirements to stakeholders and receive feedback. |
| Meetings attended to influence international policy. |
| Engagement with other regulators to explore opportunities for regulatory efficiencies. |
Uranium Producers Charge
ASNO is responsible for the Uranium Producers Charge. This charge is payable to Consolidated Revenue on each kilogram of uranium ore concentrate production (set on 1 December 2018 at 13.5502 cents per kilogram). The charge rate was not changed in 2019 and 2020.
1 Undertaken by Geoscience Australia.
2 ASNO's full Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment reports can be found on the DFAT website.
3 https://deregulation.pmc.gov.au/priorities/regulator-best-practice-and-performance/regulator-performance-guide
