This explanatory note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament.

Overview of Bill

The objects of this Bill are:

(a) to ensure that, as far as possible, public money is not expended on government
publicity for a partisan political purpose, and

(b) to enable the Auditor-General to scrutinise government publicity that appears
to the Auditor-General to have the capacity or to be likely to have the capacity
to be used for that purpose.

Outline of provisions

Part 1 Preliminary
Clause 1 sets out the name (also called the short title) of the proposed Act.

Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on the date of assent.

Clause 3 contains a brief description of the objects of the proposed Act.

Clause 4 defines certain words and expressions used in the proposed Act. These
include government publicity (which is defined to include all methods of publicising
governmental activities, programs or initiatives for public authorities that are paid for
with public money) and public authority (which is defined so as to include Divisions
of the Government Service and certain statutory bodies such as State owned
corporations, but not universities or local councils). Guidelines are defined as the
guidelines for government publicity set out in Schedule 1. These are that government
publicity should be accurate, factual and truthful, it should be fair, honest and
impartial, and lawful and proper.

Part 2 Scrutiny of publicity and guidelines
Clause 5 provides that the Auditor-General:

(a) may review any government publicity that the Auditor-General considers may
be government publicity for political purposes, and

(b) must review any government publicity on which a public authority incurs or
will incur $200,000 or more in expenditure,
in order to determine whether the Auditor-General should make an order regarding
the government publicity under clause 8.

Government publicity for political purposes is government publicity that promotes
governmental activities, programs or initiatives in such a partisan or biased manner
that it has the capacity, 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. The
Auditor-General may carry out a review on the Auditor-General’s own initiative or
if a complaint is made to the Auditor-General under the proposed Act. The
Auditor-General may also provide advice, at the request of a public authority,
concerning publicity on which it proposes to incur expenditure that may be outside
the guidelines. In exercising these functions, the Auditor-General is to have regard to
the guidelines for government publicity. The guidelines are also to be followed by
heads of public authorities in determining whether the public authorities should incur
expenditure on government publicity (clause 8).

Clause 6 sets out the other functions of the Auditor-General under the proposed Act.

These include monitoring and reviewing expenditure on government publicity that
appears to the Auditor-General to be for political purposes.

Clause 7 provides for the guidelines as set out in Schedule 1 to the proposed Act to
be amended by regulations made on the recommendation of the Auditor-General.

The guidelines as amended may include recommendations as to the appropriate
content, style, method of dissemination and cost of government publicity and for
inclusion of a “termination provision” in contracts for dissemination of government
publicity so that the Auditor-General may order the dissemination to stop if the
publicity does not comply with the guidelines. Regulations made under the proposed
section may be disallowed by either House of Parliament under section 41 of the
Interpretation Act 1987.

Clause 8 requires the head of a public authority to ensure that the public authority
does not incur expenditure on government publicity that does not comply with the
guidelines and that it complies with any orders made by the Auditor-General in
connection with deviations from the guidelines. It also enables the Auditor-General
to order a public authority to stop the dissemination of government publicity in
certain circumstances.The Auditor-General may further order that a political party
pay back the amount of any expenditure on government publicity for political
purposes incurred by a public authority where that party is held to be responsible for
the publicity.

Clause 9 enables the Auditor-General to require a public authority to submit a report
to the Auditor-General detailing expenditure on government publicity that the
Auditor-General believes may be government publicity for political purposes.

Clause 10 enables complaints to be made to the Auditor-General in relation to
government publicity and provides for the Auditor-General to inquire into such a
complaint if the Auditor-General believes the complaint is justified. The
Auditor-General is required to give written reasons to a complainant if the
Auditor-General decides not to investigate a complaint.

Clauses 11–13 require the Auditor-General to make an annual report to each House
of Parliament and enable the Auditor-General to make special reports to Parliament
in relation to matters concerning the Auditor-General’s functions that the
Auditor-General feels should be brought to the public notice.

Part 3 Miscellaneous
Clause 14 provides for the making of regulations. The regulations may exempt a
public authority from compliance with any provision of the proposed Act but such a
regulation may only be made on the recommendation of the Auditor-General.

Clause 15 provides for a review of the operation of the proposed Act to be conducted
by the Minister after 5 years from the date of assent.

Schedule 1 Guidelines for government publicity
Schedule 1 sets out the guidelines for government publicity.

Note: If this Bill is not modified, these Explanatory Notes would reflect the Bill as passed in the House. If the Bill has been amended by Committee, these Explanatory Notes may not necessarily reflect the Bill as passed.

 

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