Commonwealth Numbered Acts

AUDIT AMENDMENT ACT 1979 No. 8 of 1979 - SECT 60

60. After section 70C of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:
Exempt accounts
''70D. (1) Where the responsible Minister in respect of a prescribed
Department or a prescribed organization is satisfied that disclosure of the
accounts, or of a particular part of the accounts, of the Department or the
organization-

   (a)  would prejudice operations that have been carried on, are being
        carried on or are expected to be carried on by the Department or by
        the organization, as the case may be; and

   (b)  would be contrary to the national interest, the responsible Minister
        may declare, by writing under his hand, that those accounts are, or
        that part of those accounts is, to be treated as exempt accounts of
        the Department or of the organization, as the case may be, for the
        purposes of this section.

''(2) A declaration under sub-section (1) in respect of a Department or an
organization has no force or effect until it is delivered to the
Auditor-General.

''(3) Upon delivery to the Auditor-General, but subject to sub-section (4), a
declaration under sub-section (1) in respect of accounts, or a part of
accounts, applies to the accounts, or the part of the accounts, that relate to
any period or periods commencing on, or occurring after, such date as is
specified in the declaration, which may be a date in the financial year in
which the declaration is made earlier than the date on which the declaration
was made but not earlier than 1 July 1978.

''(4) If-

   (a)  a declaration under sub-section (1) is in force in respect of the
        accounts, or a part of the accounts, of a prescribed Department or a
        prescribed organization; and

   (b)  the declaration is revoked or the Department or organization ceases to
        be a prescribed Department or a prescribed organization, as the case
        may be, the declaration does not apply to those accounts, or that part
        of those accounts, that relate to any period after the revocation
        takes effect or the Department or organization ceases to be a
        prescribed Department or a prescribed organization, as the case may
        be.

''(5) As soon as practicable after the Auditor-General completes his audit of
the accounts, in respect of a financial year, of, or relating to, a Department
that was a prescribed Department, or an organization that was a prescribed
organization, during the whole or a part of that financial year,
the Auditor-General shall notify the responsible Minister in respect of the
Department or organization, in writing, the total of the amounts that,
according to the accounts audited by him, were allocated for crediting to the
exempt accounts of the Department or organization during that financial year
and request the responsible Minister to furnish to him certificates, for
presentation to the Parliament, certifying-

   (a)  whether the moneys shown in those exempt accounts as having been
        expended for a purpose or service specified in those exempt accounts
        during that financial year, or during the part of that financial year
        during which they were exempt accounts, were properly expended in
        respect of that service or purpose and in the public interest; and

   (b)  whether the amount standing to the credit of those exempt accounts at
        the end of the financial year, or, if they ceased to be exempt
        accounts before the end of the financial year, immediately before they
        ceased to be exempt accounts-

        (i)    was held in cash, on deposit with a bank or partly in cash and
               partly on deposit with a bank; and

        (ii)   equalled the amount ascertained by aggregating the amount
               standing to the credit of those accounts at the commencement of
               the financial year and the total specified in the notification
               so given to the responsible Minister by the Auditor-General and
               subtracting from that aggregate the total of the amounts of
               expenditure referred to in the certificate.

''(6) The responsible Minister in respect of a Department or organization
shall comply with a request under sub-section (5) as soon as practicable after
he receives the request.

''(7) The Auditor-General shall transmit a signed copy of a certificate
concerning the exempt accounts of a Department or organization in respect of a
financial year or a part of a financial year that is furnished to him in
compliance with a request under sub-section (5) to each House of the
Parliament at the same time as he transmits a signed copy of his report, in
respect of that financial year, relating to the Department or organization to
each House of the Parliament in accordance with section 53.

''(8) A person to whom this sub-section applies shall not, either directly or
indirectly, and either while he is, or after he ceases to be, a person to
which this sub-section applies, divulge or communicate, except with the
consent of the Minister or, in the course of duty, to another person to whom
this sub-section applies, any information, acquired by him by reason of his
being a person to whom this sub-section applies, that relates to any moneys
allocated for crediting to the exempt accounts, or to any receipts or
expenditure recorded in the exempt accounts, of a Department or organization.

Penalty: $500.

''(9) Except so far as the contrary intention appears-

   (a)  a provision of this Act, or of any other Act whether passed before or
        after the commencement of this section, that authorizes or requires
        the Auditor-General to inspect, examine or audit any accounts of, or
        relating to, a Department or organization shall, in the case of a
        Department that is, or has been, a prescribed Department or of an
        organization that is, or has been, a prescribed organization, be taken
        to authorize or require the Auditor-General to inspect, examine or
        audit only such accounts of, or relating to, the Department or
        organization as are not exempt accounts of the Department or
        organization; and

   (b)  nothing in this Act, or in any other Act whether passed before or
        after the commencement of this section, shall be taken to authorize
        the Auditor-General or any person appointed by the Auditor-General
        under section 11 to inspect or examine any documents or records of a
        Department, or of an organization, that relate to expenditure that is
        recorded in the exempt accounts of the Department or organization.

''(10) In this section-

   (a)  a reference to the responsible Minister in respect of a Department
        shall be read as a reference to the Minister administering that
        Department or another Minister acting for and on behalf of the
        Minister administering that Department;

   (b)  a reference to the responsible Minister in respect of an organization
        shall be read as a reference-

        (i)    in the case of an organization established by or under an
               Act-to the Minister administering the provisions of that Act
               that established, or provided for the establishment of, the
               organization; or

        (ii)   in the case of any other organization-to the Minister declared
               by the regulations to be the responsible Minister in respect of
               the organization,

or another Minister acting for and on behalf of that Minister; and

   (c)  a reference to a person to whom sub-section (8) applies shall be read
        as a reference to-

        (i)    the Auditor-General;

        (ii)   a person employed in the Auditor-General's Office; or

        (iii)  a person, not being a person employed in the Auditor-General's
               Office, appointed by the Auditor-General under section 11.

''(11) In this section, unless the contrary intention appears-

'accounts' includes financial statements;

'exempt accounts' means accounts, or a part of accounts, that, by virtue of a
declaration under sub-section (1), are to be treated as exempt accounts of a
Department or organization;

'prescribed Department' means a Department of State declared by the
regulations to be a prescribed Department for the purposes of this section;

'prescribed organization' means an organization declared by the regulations to
be a prescribed organization for the purposes of this section.''.