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This Act is the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority Act 2021.
Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
Commencement information | ||
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Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
Provisions | Commencement | Date/Details |
1. The whole of this Act | The later of: (a) the day after this Act receives the Royal Assent; and (b) 1 July 2021. | 1 July 2021 (paragraph (b) applies) |
This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.
Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.
The object of this Act is to provide for the independent assessment of:
APRA’s effectiveness and capability; and
ASIC’s effectiveness and capability.
This Act establishes the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority.
Every 5 financial years, the Authority is to assess the effectiveness and capability of APRA and ASIC and then report to the Minister. The Authority is also to undertake ad hoc assessments on any matter relating to APRA’s, or ASIC’s, effectiveness and capability when requested by the Minister.
The Authority consists of the Chair and 2 other members. It is assisted by APS employees in the Department whose services are made available by the Secretary.
The Authority may request information from APRA and ASIC. There are limitations on how some of this information can be used and disclosed.
In this Act:
5‑yearly report means a report mentioned in paragraph 12(1)(a) or (b).
APRA means the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
ASIC means the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Authority means the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority.
Chair means the Chair of the Authority.
enforcement body has the same meaning as in the Privacy Act 1988.
enforcement related activity has the same meaning as in the Privacy Act 1988.
entrusted person means:
a member; or
a staff member; or
the Secretary; or
an APS employee; or
a consultant engaged under section 37; or
any other person employed or engaged to provide services to the Commonwealth in connection with the Authority; or
an officer or employee of a person mentioned in paragraph (e) or (f) whose duties relate to the Authority.
member means a member of the Authority and includes the Chair.
officer has the same meaning as in section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001.
paid work means work for financial gain or reward (whether as an employee, a self‑employed person or otherwise).
protected information means information of any of the following kinds that is obtained by the Authority from APRA or ASIC (the source agency):
information that is prohibited from being disclosed by a person under:
a law of the Commonwealth other than this Act; or
a law of a State or Territory;
information the disclosure of which by the source agency would or could reasonably be expected to found an action by a person (other than the Commonwealth) for breach of a duty of confidence;
information that is protected against disclosure by legal professional privilege;
information the disclosure of which:
could reasonably be expected to prejudice the security, defence or international relations of Australia; or
could reasonably be expected to prejudice relations between the Commonwealth Government and the Government of a State or Territory; or
would involve disclosing deliberations or decisions of the Cabinet, or of a Committee of the Cabinet; or
could reasonably be expected to endanger a person’s life or physical safety; or
could reasonably be expected to prejudice one or more enforcement related activities; or
would involve unreasonably disclosing personal information (within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988).
For the purposes of paragraph (a), the following do not matter:
who the law prohibits from disclosing the information;
the circumstances in which the law prohibits the disclosure.
rules means the rules made under section 51.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Department.
staff member means a member of the staff assisting the Authority (see section 36).
use, in relation to information, includes make a record of.
This Act binds the Crown in each of its capacities.
This Act does not make the Crown liable to be prosecuted for an offence.
This Act extends to acts, omissions, matters and things outside Australia.
The Financial Regulator Assessment Authority is established.
The Authority’s functions include:
once every 5 financial years, assessing the effectiveness and capability of each of APRA and ASIC and reporting to the Minister; and
when requested by the Minister, undertaking assessments on any matter relating to APRA’s, or ASIC’s, effectiveness and capability.
APRA and ASIC and their members and staff are required to cooperate with and provide information to the Authority.
The Financial Regulator Assessment Authority is established by this section.
The Authority consists of the following members:
a Chair;
2 other members.
The performance of a function or the exercise of a power by the Authority is not affected by a vacancy or vacancies in the membership of the Authority.
For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of Department of State in section 8 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, the Authority is prescribed in relation to the Department.
This means that the members are officials of the Department for the purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
The Authority has the following functions:
to assess and report to the Minister on APRA’s effectiveness and capability;
to assess and report to the Minister on ASIC’s effectiveness and capability;
at any time when requested by the Minister, to assess and report to the Minister on any matter relating to:
APRA’s effectiveness and capability; or
ASIC’s effectiveness and capability;
any other function conferred by this Act or any other law of the Commonwealth;
any other function that is incidental or conducive to the performance of any of the above functions.
However, the functions of the Authority do not include assessing or reporting on only a single case.
For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c), the Authority may:
undertake an assessment itself; or
cause an assessment, or the preparation of the resulting report, to be undertaken by someone else.