NSW Parliament. Image: Naddsy
The New South Wales Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford has tabled a report looking into state government advertising, finding that the peer review process provides ‘good assurance’ the campaigns are ‘necessary and cost effective’.
The report follows legislation passed in NSW called the Government Advertising Act 2011, which requires government advertising campaigns with a likely expenditure over $50,000 to be independently peer reviewed before launch.
According to the Auditor-General, the Department of Premier and Cabinet manages this process, which includes allocating and coordinating peer reviewers to assess campaigns against the Premier’s ‘Government Advertising Guidelines’.
Although the audit noted that the peer review process is generally effective, the report said that some areas needed improvement.
One of these areas was that peer reviewers do not currently share a consistent understanding on the purpose of the peer review process and the role of peer reviews.
The report also said that the process for allocating reviewers to campaigns could be improved.
“While this was not an issue for the majority of campaigns reviewed as part of the audit, there were some occasions where peer reviewers allocated to a campaign did not have the right mix of skills and experience for the campaign being assessed,” the report said.
According to the report, the “current process does not fully satisfy the requirements of the Guidelines because peer reviewers do not consider whether mainstream advertising is the most appropriate medium to achieve campaign objectives”.
Another problem the report noted was that the Department does not provide regular feedback to reviewers to support improvement in the quality of peer reviews.
“A significant proportion of peer reviewers indicated that they would find feedback useful,” the report said.
The Auditor-General recommends the Department publish clear guidance around the purpose of peer review, and the roles and responsibilities of those involved.
