The office of Opposition Tourism spokesman, Martin Ferguson, who called for a probity audit back in May, said it remains curious about why the process could not have been more transparent.
“Tourism Australia has gone to great trouble now to brief the media and others about the process, about who was involved, but that could have been done early,” a spokesman for Ferguson said. “This is such a flagship contract—it is the job of selling Australia—that it needs to be seen as squeaky clean and following a rigorous process.”
The government has been under increasing pressure to disclose more about its advertising agency procurement processes (B&T, July 15).
Following the announcement of the appointment last Friday, Tourism Australia put out a media statement outlining some of the details of the review process emphasising that it had involved 700 contact hours and the participation of 31 individual assessors and evaluators from TA’s global network.
“The process was designed to ensure separation of key functions and to limit the influence of any assessors as part of the process,” Tourism Australia managing director, Scott Morrison, said. He has rejected criticisms including accusations of bias towards M&C Saatchi.
He has said that he and marketing director Ian MacFarlane, whose previous close ties with M&C Saatchi management had led to the speculation of bias, had not been involved in the initial short-listing of agencies in the tender.
One agency exec involved on the tender said that while what he saw of the process was comprehensive and well run he believed that TA could have been more open,
“It was very surprising that they didn’t publish a shortlist—they didn’t do themselves any favours there,” the source said.
The Opposition’s call for a probity audit came after the matter was raised in Senates Estimates committee proceedings on May 31, and following concerns from members if the ad industry.
In response to questions about criticisms aired in the media Morrison told the hearing that the process TA had followed had been “rigorous and comprehensive”.
“It is not uncommon in the advertising industry for those who have been unsuccessful in that process to raise questions about it,” he told the hearing.
At the time Ferguson called for the Government to “get serious about openness and transparency in relation to Tourism Australia’s ad account by submitting the process to the audit”.
While Ferguson’s office said he would not push to be privy to the results of the probity audit by KPMG, he has said he was “working on the basis that the process was found to comply with Government procurement and tendering guidelines”.
Meanwhile, it is understood requests for debriefs from some agencies who tendered for the account have been agreed to by Tourism Australia and will be conducted in the coming weeks.
B&T has also been told several requests for information about the details of the probity audit under the Freedom of Information Act have been lodged.
In its corporate plan 2005/06-2007/08, TA established a goal of increasing international visitor spend by more than 25% on the figures achieved in 2003/2004 to take the total spend to $22.1bn by 2007/2008.
