Destination NSW and Sydney Opera House rapped for flouting govt advertising policies
Destination NSW has been chastised by the audit office for flouting rules which demand social media policies be apolitical and for splitting its ad campaign expenditure to avoid scrutiny from the government.
In a report released today, the Auditor General ruled there were “areas of uncertainty and non-compliance with the government advertising” relating to both Destination NSW and Sydney Opera House.
“We found that agencies had not complied with the government’s social media policy which requires social media content to be apolitical. For example, DNSW had posted political images on its social media accounts,” the report stated.
They included twitter posts featuring NSW Premier Mike Baird.
In addition, the auditor noted that the Government Advertising Act 2011 requires agencies to “conduct a cost benefit analysis where the cost of an advertising campaign is likely to exceed $1 million.”
But he said DNSW appears to have “arranged” its advertising programs, which included 76 campaigns at a total cost of almost $20m, in such a way to avoid the scrutiny “for any of its advertising campaigns”.
The review also found non-compliance in other area of advertising procedures including the use of agencies not covered in the government’s Central Agency Services (MAS) contract for media planning and buying and “not submitting campaign expenditure and outcome information at completion of each campaign”.
“The agencies examined in this audit have not managed all their advertising and communications activities in an accountable and transparent way,” the report stated. “Their relevant policies, procedures and practices were either not developed or were not consistent with government policies and requirements.”
Both DNSW and Sydney Opera House were told to improve their compliance by the end of the year.
Destination NSW said it welcomed what it described as “suggestions” from the Auditor General.
“They have been noted and will be actioned,” a spokesperson said. “DNSW has followed Government guidelines with regards to Advertising, has delivered record campaign results and provides regular reports to Government on those results.
“We also note the Auditor General’s comment that the Visitor Economy Industry Action Plan recommendation that DNSW be exempt from peer review has not yet been actioned.
“DNSW is subject to internal and external audit and to date has had no adverse findings.”
The tourism body added that there is “no Government direction that photographs of Ministers cannot be placed on Government Agency websites or social media accounts using non-paid social media channels.:”
Steve Jones
Destination NSW is a diabolical organisation that needs to be deleted – it’s a huge waste of money and their work is tired, predictable, and doesn’t help the areas that really need it.
Laden with bureacractical nonsense as well. Delete now.
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so @Syd Vivid is a waste of time….despite it continually exceeding expectations and providing massive financial return?? as do so many other DNSW supported/ executed campaigns?? smell the coffee, its time to wake up!!
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