Indigenous early childhood development. New directions: mothers and babies services

The Australian National Audit Office has conducted an audit which has examined the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Ageing’s administration of New Directions, a program aimed at improving child health and education in Indigenous communities.
The audit considered whether:

• planning processes were developed to support the program’s objectives and rationale;
• implementation arrangements were clearly defined and aligned to the objectives of the program; and
• robust performance management arrangements had been established and were in use by the department.                       (APO 29/5/12)