New South Wales Bills New South Wales Bills[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]
This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
New South Wales
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Objects 2
4 Definitions 2
Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines
5 Review of government publicity for political purposes 4
6 Other functions of Auditor-General 4
7 Amendment of guidelines 4
8 Compliance with guidelines 5
9 Reports on expenditure 6
10 Complaints 6
11 Annual report of Auditor-General to Parliament 7
12 Special report 7
b2006-415-04.d03
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Contents
Page
13 Reports presented to Clerk of House of Parliament 8
Part 3 Miscellaneous
14 Regulations 9
15 Review of Act 9
Schedule 1 Guidelines for government publicity 10
Contents page 2
New South Wales
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
No , 2007
A Bill for
An Act to provide for the scrutiny of, and guidelines for, government publicity which
has or is likely to have the capacity to influence public support for a political party
or for candidates for election to, or members of, Parliament; and for other purposes.
Clause 1 Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Part 1 Preliminary
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
1 Name of Act 3
This Act is the Government Publicity Control Act 2007. 4
2 Commencement 5
This Act commences on the date of assent. 6
3 Objects 7
The objects of this Act are: 8
(a) to ensure that, as far as possible, public money is not expended 9
on government publicity for a partisan political purpose, and 10
(b) to enable the Auditor-General to scrutinise government publicity 11
that appears to the Auditor-General to have the capacity or to be 12
likely to have the capacity to be used for that purpose. 13
4 Definitions 14
In this Act: 15
candidate for election means a person nominated as a candidate at an 16
election in accordance with the Parliamentary Electorates and 17
Elections Act 1912. 18
dissemination includes display. 19
election means an election of any member or members of the 20
Legislative Assembly or a periodic Council election (within the 21
meaning of section 3 of the Constitution Act 1902). 22
exercise a function includes perform a duty. 23
function includes a power, authority or duty. 24
government publicity means any advertisement, promotional 25
campaign, public relations campaign, announcement or means of 26
publicising any governmental activities, programs or initiatives that is 27
funded by public money, being public money that is paid to the person 28
or body disseminating the publicity for a public authority. 29
government publicity for political purposes--see section 5 (1). 30
guidelines means the guidelines for government publicity set out in 31
Schedule 1. 32
head of a public authority--see section 8 (6). 33
party means a body or organisation, incorporated or unincorporated, 34
having as one of its objects or activities the promotion of the election to 35
Page 2
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007 Clause 4
Preliminary Part 1
Parliament of a candidate or candidates endorsed by it or by a body or 1
organisation of which it forms part, and includes any coalition of bodies 2
or organisations having such objects or activities. 3
public authority means: 4
(a) a Division of the Government Service within the meaning of the 5
Public Sector Employment and Management Act 2002, or 6
(b) any State owned corporation, or 7
(c) a NSW Government agency, or 8
(d) any other authority declared by the regulations to be a public 9
authority for the purposes of this definition, 10
and includes a person exercising functions on behalf of the Division, 11
corporation, agency or authority. 12
termination provision--see section 7 (3). 13
Page 3
Clause 5 Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines
Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines 1
5 Review of government publicity for political purposes 2
(1) In this Act: 3
government publicity for political purposes means government 4
publicity that promotes governmental activities, programs or initiatives 5
in such a partisan or biased manner that it has the capacity, or is likely 6
to have the capacity, to influence public support for a political party or 7
for candidates for election to, or members of, Parliament. 8
(2) The Auditor-General: 9
(a) may review any government publicity that the Auditor-General 10
considers may be government publicity for political purposes, 11
and 12
(b) must review any government publicity on which a public 13
authority incurs or will incur $200,000 or more in expenditure, 14
to determine whether the Auditor-General should make any order 15
regarding the publicity under section 8. 16
(3) In making such a determination, the Auditor-General is to have regard 17
to the guidelines. 18
(4) The Auditor-General may conduct a review under this section on the 19
Auditor-General's own initiative or on receipt of a complaint under 20
section 10. 21
(5) Nothing in this section prevents the Auditor-General from providing 22
advice at the request of a public authority concerning proposed 23
expenditure by the authority on government publicity that may be 24
outside the guidelines. 25
6 Other functions of Auditor-General 26
The Auditor-General also has the following functions under this Act: 27
(a) to monitor and review expenditure by public authorities on 28
government publicity that appears to the Auditor-General to be 29
government publicity for political purposes, 30
(b) to examine and review the practices and procedures of public 31
authorities relating to the dissemination of government publicity, 32
(c) to inquire into complaints made to the Auditor-General in 33
accordance with section 10. 34
7 Amendment of guidelines 35
(1) The regulations may, on the recommendation of the Auditor-General, 36
amend Schedule 1 by inserting, omitting or amending any guideline. 37
Page 4
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007 Clause 8
Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines Part 2
(2) A guideline may include recommendations regarding the appropriate 1
content and style, method of dissemination and cost of government 2
publicity. 3
(3) A guideline may recommend that any contract entered into by a public 4
authority for the dissemination of government publicity include a 5
provision (in this Act called a termination provision) for termination of 6
the contract if the guidelines are not complied with. 7
8 Compliance with guidelines 8
(1) The head of a public authority must ensure that the public authority: 9
(a) does not incur expenditure on government publicity that does not 10
comply with the guidelines, and 11
(b) complies with any order made by the Auditor-General under this 12
Act. 13
(2) The Auditor-General may order a public authority to do any one or more 14
of the following: 15
(a) subject to subsection (3), to immediately stop the dissemination 16
of any government publicity that is for political purposes and that 17
does not comply with the guidelines and for which the authority 18
has incurred or will incur expenditure, 19
(b) to modify the content, style or method of dissemination of any 20
such government publicity so that it will comply with the 21
guidelines, 22
(c) to stop expenditure on any such government publicity or to limit 23
expenditure on any such government publicity so that it will 24
comply with the guidelines. 25
(3) An order under subsection (2) may not be made so as: 26
(a) to require a public authority to stop payment to any person or 27
body for government publicity already disseminated by that 28
person or body, or 29
(b) to affect any liability incurred by the public authority under a 30
contract for future dissemination of such publicity unless the 31
contract includes a termination provision. 32
(4) The Auditor-General may order a party that the Auditor-General 33
considers is responsible for any government publicity that is the subject 34
of any order under subsection (2) to pay into such fund or account 35
specified by the Auditor-General the amount of any expenditure 36
incurred by the public authority in relation to that publicity. 37
Page 5
Clause 9 Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines
(5) If a contract is terminated in accordance with a termination provision: 1
(a) the termination does not affect a right acquired, or a liability 2
incurred, before that termination by a person who was a party to 3
the contract, as a result of the performance before that 4
termination of any obligation imposed by the contract, and 5
(b) no liability for breach of contract is incurred by a person who was 6
a party to the contract by reason only of that termination, and 7
(c) neither the Crown nor the Auditor-General incurs any liability by 8
reason of that termination. 9
(6) For the purposes of this Act, the head of a public authority for: 10
(a) a Division of the Government Service--is the appropriate 11
Division Head, and 12
(b) a public authority that is an individual--is the individual, and 13
(c) a public authority that is a corporation sole--is the corporation 14
sole, and 15
(d) any other public authority--is the person who exercises the 16
functions of chief executive officer of the authority. 17
9 Reports on expenditure 18
The Auditor-General may require a public authority to prepare and 19
submit to the Auditor-General, by such a date as may be specified by the 20
Auditor-General, a report detailing its expenditure on government 21
publicity that the Auditor-General believes may be government 22
publicity for a political purpose and the purposes of that publicity. 23
10 Complaints 24
(1) Any person may complain to the Auditor-General that a public authority 25
has, in the opinion of the complainant, improperly incurred expenditure 26
on government publicity because it is government publicity for a 27
political purpose and does not comply with the guidelines. 28
(2) A complaint must be in writing. 29
(3) The Auditor-General need not inquire into a complaint made to the 30
Auditor-General if, in the opinion of the Auditor-General: 31
(a) the government publicity is not government publicity for a 32
political purpose or is government publicity that complies with 33
the guidelines, or 34
(b) the complaint is frivolous or vexatious, or 35
(c) the subject-matter of the complaint is trivial, or 36
Page 6
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007 Clause 11
Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines Part 2
(d) the conduct complained of occurred too long before the 1
complaint to justify investigation, or 2
(e) it would for any other reason be inappropriate to do so. 3
(4) The Auditor-General is to advise a complainant in writing within 4
30 days of deciding not to inquire into a complaint and of the reasons 5
for the Auditor-General's decision. 6
(5) The Auditor-General is to notify the head of the public authority 7
concerned before it conducts an inquiry into a complaint against the 8
public authority. 9
11 Annual report of Auditor-General to Parliament 10
(1) As soon as practicable after 30 June (but not later than 31 December) in 11
each year, the Auditor-General is to prepare and present to each House 12
of Parliament a report of the Auditor-General's activities under this Act 13
for the 12 months ending on 30 June in that year. 14
(2) A report is to include the following: 15
(a) a description of any expenditure on government publicity that, in 16
the opinion of the Auditor-General, was improperly incurred by 17
a public authority because it was government publicity for 18
political purposes and did not comply with the guidelines, 19
(b) a description of any such government publicity that was the 20
subject of complaint to and inquiry by the Auditor-General, 21
(c) a description of any government publicity that the 22
Auditor-General is satisfied does not comply with the guidelines 23
or that has been disseminated in disregard of any order of the 24
Auditor-General under this Act. 25
(3) If a House of Parliament is not sitting when the Auditor-General seeks 26
to present a report to it under this section, the Auditor-General is to 27
present the report to the Clerk of the House concerned to be dealt with 28
in accordance with section 13. 29
12 Special report 30
(1) The Auditor-General may, at any time, prepare and present to each 31
House of Parliament a special report on any matter relating to the 32
functions of the Auditor-General under this Act that, in the opinion of 33
the Auditor-General, should be brought to the attention of Parliament. 34
(2) If a House of Parliament is not sitting when the Auditor-General seeks 35
to present a report to it under this section, the Auditor-General is to 36
present the report to the Clerk of the House concerned to be dealt with 37
in accordance with section 13. 38
Page 7
Clause 13 Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines
13 Reports presented to Clerk of House of Parliament 1
A report presented to the Clerk of a House of Parliament in accordance 2
with a provision of this Part: 3
(a) is, on presentation and for all purposes, taken to have been laid 4
before the House, and 5
(b) is to be printed by authority of the Clerk of the House, and 6
(c) is, for all purposes, taken to be a document published by order or 7
under the authority of the House, and 8
(d) is to be recorded: 9
(i) in the case of the Legislative Council, in the Minutes of the 10
Proceedings of the Legislative Council, and 11
(ii) in the case of the Legislative Assembly, in the Votes and 12
Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, 13
on the first sitting day of the House after receipt of the report by 14
the Clerk. 15
Page 8
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007 Clause 14
Miscellaneous Part 3
Part 3 Miscellaneous 1
14 Regulations 2
(1) The Governor may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for 3
or with respect to any matter that by this Act is required or permitted to 4
be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for 5
carrying out or giving effect to this Act. 6
(2) In particular, the regulations may make provision for or with respect to: 7
(a) requiring the making, keeping and auditing of records of 8
expenditure by public authorities on government publicity, and 9
(b) requiring or otherwise providing for the production, examination 10
and copying of those records, and 11
(c) the exemption of any public authority or of any act, matter or 12
thing from all or any of the provisions of this Act, and 13
(d) the disciplinary proceedings or disciplinary action that may be 14
taken against any officer of a public authority responsible for a 15
failure to meet the guidelines or the requirements of this Act. 16
(3) A regulation under subsection (2) (c) may be made only on the 17
recommendation of the Auditor-General. 18
15 Review of Act 19
(1) The Minister is to review this Act to determine whether the policy 20
objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act 21
remain appropriate for securing those objectives. 22
(2) The review is to be undertaken as soon as possible after the period of 23
5 years from the date of assent to this Act. 24
(3) A report on the outcome of the review is to be tabled in each House of 25
Parliament within 12 months after the end of the period of 5 years. 26
Page 9
Government Publicity Control Bill 2007
Schedule 1 Guidelines for government publicity
Schedule 1 Guidelines for government publicity 1
(Sections 4 and 7) 2
1 Government publicity should be accurate, factual and truthful 3
Factual information should be outlined clearly and accurately. 4
Comment on and the analysis of that information, to amplify its 5
meaning, should be indicated as such. 6
2 Government publicity should be fair, honest and impartial 7
The material should be presented in unbiased and objective language, 8
and in a manner free from partisan promotion of Government policy and 9
political argument. 10
3 Government publicity should be lawful and proper 11
The material should comply with the law. 12
Page 10
[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]