27Reliance on information or advice

27 Reliance on information or advice

[Section 27 Substituted by No. 42 of 2002, s. 18, Applied:27 Nov 2002] If –

(a) an officer of a Government Business Enterprise relies on information, or professional or expert advice, given or prepared by –

(i) an employee of the Government Business Enterprise who the officer believes on reasonable grounds to be reliable and competent in relation to the matters concerned; or

(ii) a professional adviser or expert in relation to matters that the officer believes on reasonable grounds to be within the person's professional or expert competence; or

(iii) another officer in relation to matters within the officer's authority; or

(iv) a committee of officers on which the officer did not serve in relation to matters within the committee's authority; and

(b) the reliance was made –

(i) in good faith; and

(ii) after making an independent assessment of the information or advice, having regard to the officer's knowledge of the Government Business Enterprise and the complexity of the structure and operations of the Government Business Enterprise; and

(c) the reasonableness of the officer's reliance on the information or advice arises in proceedings brought to determine whether an officer has performed a duty under this Act or an equivalent general law duty –

the officer's reliance on the information or advice is taken to be reasonable unless the contrary is proved.