The Abbott Government has announced a National Commission of Audit to review the Commonwealth's finances and to assess the role and scope of government and where areas of overlap and duplication between the federal and state governments can be reduced. It is the fourteenth audit commission appointed in Australia since the NSW Greiner Coalition Government formed the first commission in 1988. Since then audit commissions have become a feature of incoming, mostly non-Labor state, territory and national governments. Audit commissions have heralded major changes in the structure of public...