Auditor-General Act 2009

This section applies to a person who is or has been any of the following, including before the commencement of this subsection—

an authorised auditor;

a person engaged by the auditor-general;

a person engaged or employed by a contract auditor;

a person receiving proposed reports, or extracts of proposed reports, under section 64.

The person must not—

make a record of protected information; or

whether directly or indirectly, divulge or communicate protected information;

Subsection (2) does not prevent the disclosure of protected information to—

the parliamentary committee or a portfolio committee; or

the Crime and Corruption Commission; or

a police officer, or an entity, responsible for the investigation or prosecution of offences in any jurisdiction; or

a court for the purposes of the prosecution of a person for an offence in any jurisdiction; or

if the auditor-general conducts an audit jointly, or in collaboration, with the auditor-general of the Commonwealth or another State under section 42A—the auditor-general of the Commonwealth or other State; or

the Treasurer or the department in which the Financial Accountability Act 2009 is administered.

Compliance by a person mentioned in subsection (1) in relation to the Corporations Act, section 311 or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, section 30A is declared to be an excluded matter for the Corporations Act, section 5F.

Nothing in subsection (4) is intended to affect the power of a person mentioned in subsection (1) to disclose information to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission under subsection (3)(c).

In this section—protected information means information, observations, comments, suggestions or notations that—

are not publicly available; and

are disclosed to, obtained by or made by a person to whom this section applies in relation to an audit that has been, is being or will be conducted under this Act; and

are relevant to the audit.