Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Auditor - General must not include particular information in a public report if:
(a) the Auditor - General is of the opinion that disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest for any of the reasons set out in subsection (2); or
(b) the Attorney - General has issued a certificate to the Auditor - General stating that, in the opinion of the Attorney - General, disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest for any of the reasons set out in subsection (2).
(2) The reasons are:
(a) it would prejudice the security, defence or international relations of the Commonwealth;
(b) it would involve the disclosure of deliberations or decisions of the Cabinet or of a Committee of the Cabinet;
(c) it would prejudice relations between the Commonwealth and a State;
(d) it would divulge any information or matter that was communicated in confidence by the Commonwealth to a State, or by a State to the Commonwealth;
(e) it would unfairly prejudice the commercial interests of any body or person;
(f) any other reason that could form the basis for a claim by the Crown in right of the Commonwealth in a judicial proceeding that the information should not be disclosed.
(3) The Auditor - General cannot be required, and is not permitted, to disclose to:
(a) a House of the Parliament; or
(b) a member of a House of the Parliament; or
(c) a committee of a House of the Parliament or a joint committee of both Houses of the Parliament;
information that subsection (1) prohibits being included in a public report.
(4) If the Auditor - General omits particular information from a public report because the Attorney - General has issued a certificate under paragraph (1)(b) in relation to the information, the Auditor - General must state in the report:
(a) that information (which does not have to be identified) has been omitted from the report; and
(b) the reason or reasons (in terms of subsection (2)) why the Attorney - General issued the certificate.
(5) If, because of subsection (1), the Auditor - General:
(a) decides not to prepare a public report; or
(b) omits particular information from a public report;
the Auditor - General may prepare a report under this subsection that includes the information concerned. The Auditor - General must give a copy of each report under this subsection to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and any responsible Minister.
(6) In this section:
"information" includes written comments on the proposed report or the extract that are received by the Auditor - General under subsection 19(4).
"public report" means a report that is to be tabled in either House of the Parliament.
"State" includes a self - governing Territory.