Australian taxpayers footed $87m bill for maritime surveillance for planes that ‘weren’t even flying’

Surveillance Australia handed six-year extension just three months after auditor general found home affairs’ management of contract ‘not effective’

The home affairs department must hand over a list of all expiring contracts due for renewal after it extended a contract for civil maritime surveillance for six years, just months after a critical report found it had paid for flight time when no planes were in the air.

The auditor general in October 2021 found the department’s management of the contract with Surveillance Australia was “not effective” and “as a result, while surveillance services have been provided, the quantum and range of those services has fallen short of the contractual requirements”.

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