Part 4The Public Accounts Committee
53Definitions
In this Part—
authority of the State
means—
(a)
a statutory body representing the Crown,
or
(b)
any entity appointed, constituted or regulated by
or under an Act the financial report of which is, pursuant to this Act, the
Government Sector Finance Act 2018 or
any other law, required or authorised to be audited by the Auditor-General or
an auditor appointed under section 47 (1) or to be laid before the Legislative
Assembly.
Chair means the Chair of the
Committee.
Committee means the Public Accounts
Committee for the time being constituted under this Part.
Deputy
Chair means the Deputy Chair of the
Committee.
s 53: Am 2005 No 98,
Sch 1.17 [54]; 2007 No 27, Sch 1.45 [3]; 2018 No 70, Sch
2[35].
54Constitution of Public Accounts
Committee
(1)
As soon as practicable after the commencement of
the first session of each Parliament, a committee of members of the
Legislative Assembly, to be known as the Public Accounts Committee, shall be
appointed.
(2)
The Committee shall consist of 6
members.
(3)
The appointment of members of the Committee shall
be in accordance with the practice of the Legislative Assembly with respect to
the appointment of members to serve on select committees of the Legislative
Assembly.
(4)
A member of the Legislative Assembly is not
eligible for appointment as a member of the Committee if the member is a
Minister of the Crown or a Parliamentary Secretary.
(5)
A member of the Committee ceases to hold
office—
(a)
when the Legislative Assembly is dissolved or
expires by the effluxion of time,
(b)
if the member becomes a Minister of the Crown or
a Parliamentary Secretary,
(c)
if the member ceases to be a member of the
Legislative Assembly,
(d)
if the member resigns the office by instrument in
writing addressed to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly,
or
(e)
if the member is discharged from office by the
Legislative Assembly.
(6)
The Legislative Assembly may appoint one of its
members (not being a Minister of the Crown or a Parliamentary Secretary) to
fill a vacancy in the office of a member of the
Committee.
(7)
Any act or proceeding of the Committee is,
notwithstanding that at the time when the act or proceeding was done, taken or
commenced there was—
(a)
a vacancy in the office of a member of the
Committee, or
(b)
any defect in the appointment, or any
disqualification, of a member of the Committee,
as valid as if the vacancy, defect or disqualification
did not exist and the Committee were fully and properly
constituted.
s 54: Am 1999 No 16,
Sch 1.3 [1].
55Chair and Deputy Chair of Committee
(1)
There shall be a Chair and a Deputy Chair of the
Committee who shall be elected by and from the members of the
Committee.
(2)
A member of the Committee ceases to hold office
as Chair or Deputy Chair if—
(a)
the member ceases to be a member of the
Committee,
(b)
the member resigns the office by instrument in
writing presented to a meeting of the Committee, or
(c)
the member is discharged from the office by the
Committee.
(3)
At any time when the Chair is absent from New
South Wales or is, for any reason, unable to perform the duties of the office
of Chair or there is a vacancy in that office, the Deputy Chair may exercise
the functions of the Chair under this Act or under the Parliamentary Evidence Act
1901.
s 55: Am 2007 No 27,
Sch 1.45 [4] [5].
56Procedure of Committee
(1)
The procedure for the calling of meetings of the
Committee and for the conduct of business at those meetings shall, subject to
this Part, be as determined by the Committee.
(2)
The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly shall call
the first meeting of the Committee in each Parliament in such manner as the
Clerk thinks fit.
(3)
At a meeting of the Committee, 4 members
constitute a quorum.
(4)
The Chair or, in the absence of the Chair, the
Deputy Chair or, in the absence of both the Chair and Deputy Chair, a member
of the Committee elected to chair the meeting by the members present shall
preside at a meeting of the Committee.
(5)
The Deputy Chair or other member presiding at a
meeting of the Committee shall, in relation to the meeting, have all the
functions and powers of the Chair.
(6)
The Chair, Deputy Chair or other member presiding
at a meeting of the Committee shall have a deliberative vote and, in the event
of an equality of votes, shall also have a casting vote.
(7)
A question arising at a meeting of the Committee
shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and
voting.
(8)
The Committee may sit and transact business
notwithstanding any prorogation or adjournment of the Legislative
Assembly.
(9)
The Committee may sit and transact business on a
sitting day of the Legislative Assembly during the time of the
sitting.
s 56: Am 1991 No 94,
Sch 1; 1999 No 16, Sch 1.3 [2]; 2007 No 27, Sch 1.45
[4]–[6].
57Functions of Committee
(1)
The functions of the Committee are—
(a)
to examine the Consolidated State Financial
Statements transmitted to the Legislative Assembly by the
Treasurer,
(b)
to examine the financial reports of authorities
of the State, being financial reports that have been—
(i)
audited by the Auditor-General or an auditor
appointed under section 47 (1), or
(ii)
laid before the Legislative Assembly by a
Minister of the Crown,
(c)
to examine the opinion or any report of the
Auditor-General transmitted with the consolidated financial statements or laid
before the Legislative Assembly with the financial report of an authority of
the State (including any documents annexed or appended to any such opinion or
report),
(c1)
to examine any report of the Auditor-General laid
before the Legislative Assembly,
(d)
to report to the Legislative Assembly from time
to time upon any item in, or any circumstances connected with, those financial
reports, reports or documents which the Committee considers ought to be
brought to the notice of the Legislative Assembly,
(e)
to report to the Legislative Assembly from time
to time any alteration which the Committee thinks desirable in the form of
those financial reports or in the method of keeping them or in the method of
receipt, expenditure or control of money relating to those financial
reports,
(f)
to inquire into, and report to the Legislative
Assembly upon, any question in connection with those financial reports which
is referred to it by the Legislative Assembly, a Minister of the Crown or the
Auditor-General, and
(g)
to inquire into expenditure by a Minister of the
Crown made without Parliamentary sanction or appropriation or otherwise than
in accordance with the provisions of this Act or any other Act and report to
the Legislative Assembly from time to time upon any matter connected with that
expenditure which the Committee considers ought to be brought to the notice of
the Legislative Assembly.
(2)
The functions of the Committee extend to an
examination of, inquiry into or report upon a matter of Government policy if
and only if the matter has been specifically referred to the Committee under
subsection (1) (f) by the Legislative Assembly or a Minister of the
Crown.
(3)
The functions of the Committee do not extend to
an examination of, inquiry into or report upon the estimates of any proposed
expenditure by the State or by an authority of the
State.
(4)
If, at the time at which the Committee seeks to
report to the Legislative Assembly in accordance with subsection (1), the
Legislative Assembly is not sitting, the Committee shall present its report to
the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly to be dealt with in accordance with
section 63C.
(5)
s 57: Am 1989 No 57,
Sch 1 (9); 1991 No 88, Sch 1 (7); 2002 No 62, Sch 1 [8]; 2005 No 98, Sch 1.17
[8] [55]; 2008 No 48, Sch 3 [23]; 2018 No 70, Sch 2[36]; 2022 No 29, Sch
1.2[5] [8].
57APower to veto proposed appointment of
Auditor-General
(1)
The Treasurer is to refer a proposal to appoint a
person as Auditor-General to the Committee and the Committee is empowered to
veto the proposed appointment as provided by this section. The Treasurer may
withdraw a referral at any time.
(2)
The Committee has 14 days after the proposed
appointment is referred to it to veto the proposal and has a further 30 days
(after the initial 14 days) to veto the proposal if it notifies the Treasurer
within that 14 days that it requires more time to consider the
matter.
(3)
The Committee is to notify the Treasurer, within
the time that it has to veto a proposed appointment, whether or not it vetoes
it.
(4)
A referral or notification under this section is
to be in writing.
s 57A: Ins 1992 No
43, Sch 1.
58Evidence
(1)
Subject to this section, the Committee shall take
all evidence in public.
(2)
Where, in the opinion of the Committee, any
evidence proposed to be given before, or the whole or a part of a document
produced or proposed to be produced in evidence to, the Committee relates to a
secret or confidential matter, the Committee may, and at the request of the
witness giving the evidence or producing the document shall—
(a)
take the evidence in private,
or
(b)
direct that the document, or the part of the
document, be treated as confidential.
(2A)
If any evidence proposed to be given before, or
the whole or a part of a document produced or proposed to be produced in
evidence to, the Committee relates to the proposed appointment of a person as
Auditor-General, the Committee must (despite any other provision of this
section)—
(a)
take the evidence in private,
or
(b)
direct that the document, or the part of the
document, be treated as confidential.
(2B)
Despite any other provision of this section
except subsection (7), the Committee must not, and a person (including a
member of the Committee) must not, disclose any evidence or the contents of a
document or that part of a document to which subsection (2A)
applies.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or
imprisonment for 3 months, or both.
(2C)
Despite any other provision of this section
except subsection (7), the Committee (including a member of the Committee)
must not, and any person assisting the Committee or present during the
deliberations of the Committee must not, except in accordance with section 57A
(3), disclose whether or not the Committee or any member of the Committee has
vetoed, or proposes to veto, the proposed appointment of a person as
Auditor-General.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or
imprisonment for 3 months, or both.
(3)
Where a direction under subsection (2) is
applicable in respect of a document, or a part of a document, produced in
evidence to the Committee, the contents of the document or part shall, for the
purposes of this section, be deemed to be evidence given by the person
producing the document and taken by the Committee in
private.
(4)
Where, at the request of a witness, evidence is
taken by the Committee in private—
(a)
the Committee shall not, without the consent in
writing of the witness, and
(b)
a person (including a member of the Committee)
shall not, without the consent in writing of the witness and the authority of
the Committee under subsection (6),
disclose or publish the whole or a part of that
evidence.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.
(5)
Where evidence is taken by the Committee in
private otherwise than at the request of a witness, a person (including a
member of the Committee) shall not, without the authority of the Committee
under subsection (6), disclose or publish the whole or a part of that
evidence.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.
(6)
The Committee may, in its discretion, disclose or
publish or, by writing under the hand of the Chair, authorise the disclosure
or publication of evidence taken in private by the Committee, but this
subsection does not operate so as to affect the necessity for the consent of a
witness under subsection (4).
(7)
Nothing in this section prohibits—
(a)
the disclosure or publication of evidence that
has already been lawfully published, or
(b)
the disclosure or publication by a person of a
matter of which the person has become aware otherwise than by reason, directly
or indirectly, of the giving of evidence before the
Committee.
(8)
This section has effect notwithstanding section 4
of the Parliamentary Papers (Supplementary
Provisions) Act 1975.
(9)
If evidence taken by the Committee in private is
disclosed or published in accordance with this section, sections 5 and 6 of
the Parliamentary Papers (Supplementary Provisions) Act
1975 apply to and in relation to the disclosure or
publication as if it were a publication of that evidence under the authority
of section 4 of that Act.
Note—
The Defamation Act
2005 makes provision for 2 defences in respect of the
publication of defamatory matter that is contained in evidence taken by, or
documents produced to, the Committee in private, but only if the evidence or
documents have been disclosed or published in accordance with this
section.
Section 28 of the Defamation Act
2005 (when read with clause 8 of Schedule 2 to that Act)
ensures that such documents attract the defence relating to public documents
in defamation proceedings.
Section 29 of the Defamation Act
2005 (when read with clause 17 of Schedule 3 to that Act)
ensures that proceedings in which such evidence is taken or documents produced
attract the defences relating to fair reports of proceedings of public concern
in defamation proceedings.
(10)
Where the Committee as constituted at any time
has taken evidence in relation to a matter but the Committee as so constituted
has ceased to exist before reporting on the matter, the Committee as
constituted at any subsequent time, whether during the same or another
Parliament, may consider that evidence as if it had taken that
evidence.
(11)
The production of documents to the Committee
shall be in accordance with the practice of the Legislative Assembly with
respect to the production of documents to select committees of the Legislative
Assembly.
s 58: Am 1992 No 43,
Sch 1; 1992 No 112, Sch 1; 2005 No 77, Sch 6.15; 2007 No 27, Sch 1.45
[4].
s 58, note: Ins 2005
No 77, Sch 6.15.