To be effective and credible in providing assurance to Parliament, the Auditor-General must be independent of the public sector organisations being audited. To ensure independence, the Auditor-General:

• is established as an officer of Parliament rather than as a government department;
• reports to the Officers of Parliament Committee, chaired by the Speaker of the House;
• is appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of Parliament for a once-only term of no more than seven years;
• has a Deputy who is also a statutory office-holder and officer of Parliament and who can perform all the functions and exercise all the powers of the Auditor-General;
• can report directly to Parliament and anyone else; and
• makes requests for funding directly to the House of Representatives (rather than through the Executive Government), after which the House commends the sum required to the Governor-General for inclusion in an Appropriation Bill.

The Auditor-General appoints auditors to carry out annual audits on his behalf. Auditors and their staff must also be independent - both in fact and in appearance. There are strict constraints on auditors and their staff that cover such matters as:

• personal involvement with an audited entity (such as between family members);
• financial involvement with the entity (such as financial investments);
• providing other services to the entity (such as carrying out valuations); and
• dependence on fees from one source.