Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsAfter section 103 of the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001 insert —
(1) This section applies to a report to the Parliament of the Ombudsman under this Act if the report arose from a disclosed matter referred by the Ombudsman to the Director.
(2) The Director must cause the report to be transmitted to each House of the Parliament as soon as practicable after it is completed.
(3) The clerk of each House of the Parliament must cause the report to be laid before the House on the day on which it is received or on the next sitting day of the House.
(4) If the Director proposes to transmit the report to Parliament when Parliament is in recess, the Director must—
(a) give one business day's notice of his or her intention to do so to the clerk of each House of the Parliament; and
(b) give the report to the clerk of each House on the day indicated in the notice; and
(c) publish the report on the Director's Internet website as soon as practicable after giving it to the clerks.
(5) The clerk of each House must—
(a) notify each member of the House of the receipt of a notice under sub-section (4)(a) on the same day that the clerk receives that notice; and
(b) give a copy of a report to each member of the House as soon as practicable after the report is received under sub-section (4)(b); and
(c) cause the report to be laid before the House on the next sitting day of the House.
(6) A report that is given to the clerks under sub-section (4)(b) is taken to have been published by order, or under the authority, of the Houses of the Parliament.
(7) The publication of a report by the Director under sub-section (4)(c) is absolutely privileged and the provisions of sections 73 and 74 of the Constitution Act 1975 and any other enactment or rule of law relating to the publication of the proceedings of the Parliament apply to and in relation to the publication of the report as if it were a report to which those sections applied and had been published by the Government Printer under the authority of the Parliament.
(8) For the purposes of this section, Parliament is in recess when each House stands adjourned to a date to be fixed by the presiding officer of that House.".