(1) After preparing a proposed report on an audit of a Commonwealth entity under paragraph 17(1)(a), the Auditor - General must:
(a) give a copy of the proposed report to an official who is, or is a member of, the accountable authority of the entity; and
(b) to the extent that the proposed report relates to the operations of a Commonwealth partner--give a person who is, or is a member of, the governing body of the Commonwealth partner:
(i) a copy of the proposed report; or
(ii) extracts of the parts of the proposed report that deal with the audit of the Commonwealth partner; or
(iii) extracts of the proposed report that include the parts of the proposed report that deal with the audit of the Commonwealth partner.
(2) After preparing a proposed report on an audit of a body under paragraph 17(1)(b) or (c), the Auditor - General must:
(a) give a copy of the proposed report to:
(i) if the audit is of a Commonwealth company--to a director of the company; or
(ii) if the audit is of a subsidiary of a corporate Commonwealth entity or Commonwealth company--to a person who is, or is a member of, the governing body of the subsidiary; and
(b) to the extent that the proposed report relates to the operations of a Commonwealth partner--give a person who is, or is a member of, the governing body of the Commonwealth partner:
(i) a copy of the proposed report; or
(ii) extracts of the parts of the proposed report that deal with the audit of the Commonwealth partner; or
(iii) extracts of the proposed report that include the parts of the proposed report that deal with the audit of the Commonwealth partner.
(3) After preparing a proposed report under section 18A on an audit of the performance measures of a body and the body's reporting against those measures, the Auditor - General must give a copy of the proposed report to:
(a) if the audit is of a Commonwealth entity--to an official who is, or is a member of, the accountable authority of the entity; or
(b) if the audit is of a Commonwealth company--to a director of the company; or
(c) if the audit is of a subsidiary of a corporate Commonwealth entity or Commonwealth company--to a person who is, or is a member of, the governing body of the subsidiary.
(4) After preparing a proposed report on an audit of a Commonwealth partner under section 18B, the Auditor - General must give a copy of the proposed report to a person who is, or is a member of, the governing body of the Commonwealth partner.
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply if:
(a) the proposed report is included, or is to be included, in the proposed report on an audit under section 17; or
(b) the audit of the Commonwealth partner was conducted as part of an audit under section 18.
(6) After preparing a proposed report on an audit under section 17, 18, 18A or 18B, the Auditor - General may give a copy of, or an extract from, the proposed report to any person (including a Minister) who, or any body that, in the Auditor - General's opinion, has a special interest in the report or the content of the extract.
(7) If the recipient of the proposed report, or the extract from the proposed report, gives written comments to the Auditor - General as follows, the Auditor - General must consider those comments before preparing a final report:
(a) in the case of a proposed report on an audit under section 18A (audit of performance measures)--within 14 days after receiving the proposed report, or the extract from the proposed report;
(b) otherwise--within 28 days after receiving the proposed report, or the extract from the proposed report.
(8) The Auditor - General must, in the final report, include all written comments received under subsection (7).