Commonwealth legislation

Audit (Exempt Accounts) Regulations

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

67 of 1979

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

What this does: These regulations list which government bodies can keep their financial accounts secret from the regular government auditor for national security reasons.

Who it affects:

ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) — the domestic spy agency
ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) — the foreign intelligence agency
Department of Business and Consumer Affairs — a government department (now abolished)

How it works: Under the Audit Act 1901, certain "prescribed" (officially listed) organisations can apply for their accounts to be exempt from standard auditing requirements if they involve sensitive matters like national security. These regulations officially add the two intelligence agencies and the Department to that list.

Key detail: For ASIS, the regulations specifically name the Minister for Foreign Affairs as the responsible minister who oversees these exempt accounts.

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Current sections

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Audit (Exempt Accounts) Regulations

Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia

Statutory Rules

1979 No. 67

REGULATIONS UNDER THE AUDIT ACT 1901*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Audit Act 1901.

Dated this twenty-first day of April 1979.

ZELMAN COWEN

Governor-General

By His Excellency’s Command,

(Sgd JOHN HOWARD)

Treasurer for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Finance

AUDIT (EXEMPT ACCOUNTS) REGULATIONS

Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Audit (Exempt Citation Accounts) Regulations.

Interpretation

In these Regulations, “ the Act ” means the Audit Act 1901.

Prescribed organizations under section 70d

For the purposes of section 70d of the Act—

(a) the Australian Security Intelligence Organization; and

(b) the Australian Secret Intelligence Service,

are declared to be prescribed organizations.

Responsible Minister in respect of prescribed organization

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs is declared to be the responsible Minister in respect of the prescribed organization referred to in paragraph 3 (b).

Prescribed Department under section 70d

The Department of Business and Consumer Affairs is declared to be a prescribed Department for the purposes of section 70d of the Act.

* Notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 27 April 1979.

Printed by Authority by the Commonwealth Government Printer

11716/79 Cat. No. —Recommended retail price 20c 11/18.4.1979

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Audit (Exempt Accounts) Regulations