Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts Australian Capital Territory Numbered Actssubstitute
Part 5 Review of auditor-general
Division 5.1 Strategic review of auditor-general
23 Meaning of strategic review —div 5.1
In this division:
"strategic review", of the auditor-general, means—
(a) a review of the auditor-general's functions; and
(b) a performance audit of the auditor-general.
24 Strategic review to be carried out in each Assembly term
(1) A strategic review of the auditor-general must be carried out once in each term of the Legislative Assembly.
(2) The public accounts committee must decide when the strategic review is to be carried out.
(1) When the public accounts committee decides that the strategic review of the auditor-general is to be carried out, the public accounts committee must ask the Speaker to, on behalf of the Territory, engage a person to conduct the strategic review.
(2) If requested by the public accounts committee, the Speaker must, on behalf of the Territory, engage an appropriately qualified person (the strategic reviewer ) under a contract to conduct the strategic review.
26 Strategic review to be conducted as requested
(1) If the Speaker engages a strategic reviewer under section 25—
(a) the public accounts committee must—
(i) decide terms of reference for the strategic review, in consultation with the Minister; and
(ii) ask the strategic reviewer to conduct the strategic review according to the terms of reference; and
(b) the strategic reviewer must conduct the requested strategic review as soon as practicable after receiving the request.
(2) The strategic reviewer may conduct a strategic review of the auditor-general only when requested under this section.
27 Powers and obligations of strategic reviewer
(1) The strategic reviewer has the same powers and obligations in relation to the strategic review as the auditor-general has under the following provisions in relation to a performance audit under section 12 (Performance audits—Territory):
(a) division 3.6 (Power to obtain information);
(b) section 19 (Reporting sensitive information);
(c) section 35 (Directions about protected information);
(d) section 36 (Offences—use or divulge protected information).
(2) The strategic reviewer may include deliberative information in a report for the Legislative Assembly only if the information has previously been published.
Example—information previously published
information included in a previous report for the Legislative Assembly
Note 1 Deliberative information —see the dictionary.
Note 2 An example is part of the Act, is not exhaustive and may extend, but does not limit, the meaning of the provision in which it appears (see Legislation Act
, s 126 and s 132).
28 Comments on proposed strategic review report
(1) This section applies if the strategic reviewer is preparing a report about the strategic review for the Legislative Assembly under section 29.
(2) The strategic reviewer must give the auditor-general—
(a) a copy of the proposed report; and
(b) a written notice (a proposed report notice ) stating that the auditor-general may give written comments about the proposed report to the strategic reviewer before the end of—
(i) 14 days after the day the notice is given to the auditor-general; or
(ii) a longer period stated in the notice.
(3) If the strategic reviewer receives comments under this section, the strategic reviewer must consider the comments in preparing the final report.
(4) In this section:
"proposed report" means a draft version of a report.
29 Strategic review report
(1) As soon as practicable after completing a strategic review, the strategic reviewer must give a report about the strategic review to the Speaker.
(2) The report must include the substance of any comments received by the strategic reviewer under section 28 (3).
(3) The Speaker must present a copy of the report to the Legislative Assembly.
Division 5.2 Independent financial audit of auditor-general
30 Meaning of independent financial audit —div 5.2
In this division:
"independent financial audit", of the auditor-general, means an audit of an annual financial statement prepared by the auditor-general under section 21 (Application of Financial Management Act).
Note Section 21 applies the Financial Management Act
, pt 2, pt 3 and pt 5 to the auditor-general. Div 3.2 of that Act
deals with annual financial statements.
The Speaker must, on behalf of the Territory, engage an appropriately qualified person (the independent auditor ) under a contract to—
(a) conduct independent financial audits of the auditor-general; and
(b) exercise functions as required under the Financial Management Act.
Note Section 21 applies the Financial Management Act
(FMA), pt 2, pt 3 and pt 5 to the auditor-general.
The FMA
, s 29, requires the independent auditor to give the auditor-general audit opinions about annual financial statements.
The FMA
, s 30C, requires the independent auditor to give the auditor-general reports about statements of performance.
32 Independent financial audits
(1) The independent auditor must conduct an independent financial audit of each annual financial statement prepared by the auditor-general under section 21 (Application of Financial Management Act).
(2) As soon as practicable after completing an independent financial audit, the independent auditor must give a written report about the audit to the Speaker.
(3) However, the independent auditor must give the auditor-general a draft version of the report before preparing the final report.
33 Powers and obligations of independent auditor
(1) The independent auditor has the same powers and obligations in relation to the conduct of an independent financial audit as the auditor-general has under the following provisions in relation to a performance audit under section 12 (Performance audits—Territory):
(a) division 3.6 (Power to obtain information);
(b) section 19 (Reporting sensitive information);
(c) section 35 (Directions about protected information);
(d) section 36 (Offences—use or divulge protected information).
(2) The independent auditor may include deliberative information in a report for the Legislative Assembly only if the information has previously been published.
Example—information previously published
information included in a previous report for the Legislative Assembly
Note 1 Deliberative information —see the dictionary.
Note 2 An example is part of the Act, is not exhaustive and may extend, but does not limit, the meaning of the provision in which it appears (see Legislation Act
, s 126 and s 132).
Part 5A Protected information
34 Meaning of protected information —pt 5A
In this part—
"protected information "means information that is disclosed to, or obtained by, a person to whom this section applies because of the exercise of a function under this Act by the person or someone else.
Example—protected information
information obtained by the auditor-general under s 14 in the course of conducting an audit
Note An example is part of the Act, is not exhaustive and may extend, but does not limit, the meaning of the provision in which it appears (see Legislation Act
, s 126 and s 132).
36 Offences—use or divulge protected information
(1) A person to whom this section applies commits an offence if—
(a) the person uses information; and
(b) the information is protected information; and
(c) the person is reckless about whether the information is protected information.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months or both.
(2) A person to whom this section applies commits an offence if—
(a) the person does something that divulges information; and
(b) the information is protected information; and
(c) the person is reckless about whether—
(i) the information is protected information; and
(ii) doing the thing would result in the information being divulged to someone else.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months or both.
(3) This section does not apply if the information is used or divulged—
(a) under this Act or another territory law; or
(b) in relation to the exercise of a function, as a person to whom this section applies, under this Act or another territory law; or
(c) in a court proceeding.
(4) This section does not apply to the using or divulging of protected information—
(a) if the protected information is about a person—with the person's consent; or
(b) in accordance with a disclosure direction; or
Note Disclosure direction —see s 36A.
(c) to an entity prescribed by regulation.
Note 1 The defendant has an evidential burden in relation to the matters mentioned in s (3) and s (4) (see Criminal Code
, s 58).
Note 2 If the protected information used or divulged under s (3) or s (4) is provided by a person under s 14, the information and any information directly or indirectly derived from it may not be admissible in evidence against the person in another criminal proceeding (see s 14D).
(5) A person to whom this section applies need not divulge protected information to a court, or produce a document containing protected information to a court, unless it is necessary to do so for this Act or another law applying in the territory.
(6) In this section:
"court "includes a tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
"divulge "includes—
(a) communicate; or
(b) publish.
"person to whom this section applies "means—
(a) a person who is or has been—
(i) the auditor-general; or
(ii) anyone acting under the direction or authority of the auditor-general; or
(b) anyone else who has exercised a function under this Act.
"produce "includes allow access to.
"use information "includes make a record of the information.
Note The Crimes Act 1900
, s 153 also deals with disclosure of information by public employees or people performing services for the Territory or a territory authority. Section 36 applies to the auditor-general and anyone else who has exercised a function under the Act.
36A Minister may direct disclosure of protected information
The Minister may direct a person to disclose protected information to someone else (a disclosure direction ) if the Minister certifies that the disclosure is necessary in the public interest.