Section 58 - Government Sector Audit Act 1983 - Evidence

58Evidence

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58 Evidence

(1) Subject to this section, the Committee shall take all evidence in public.

(2) Where, in the opinion of the Committee, any evidence proposed to be given before, or the whole or a part of a document produced or proposed to be produced in evidence to, the Committee relates to a secret or confidential matter, the Committee may, and at the request of the witness giving the evidence or producing the document shall—

(a) take the evidence in private, or

(b) direct that the document, or the part of the document, be treated as confidential.

(2A) If any evidence proposed to be given before, or the whole or a part of a document produced or proposed to be produced in evidence to, the Committee relates to the proposed appointment of a person as Auditor-General, the Committee must (despite any other provision of this section)—

(a) take the evidence in private, or

(b) direct that the document, or the part of the document, be treated as confidential.

(2B) Despite any other provision of this section except subsection (7), the Committee must not, and a person (including a member of the Committee) must not, disclose any evidence or the contents of a document or that part of a document to which subsection (2A) applies.

Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months, or both.

(2C) Despite any other provision of this section except subsection (7), the Committee (including a member of the Committee) must not, and any person assisting the Committee or present during the deliberations of the Committee must not, except in accordance with section 57A (3), disclose whether or not the Committee or any member of the Committee has vetoed, or proposes to veto, the proposed appointment of a person as Auditor-General.

Maximum penalty—20 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months, or both.

(3) Where a direction under subsection (2) is applicable in respect of a document, or a part of a document, produced in evidence to the Committee, the contents of the document or part shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be evidence given by the person producing the document and taken by the Committee in private.

(4) Where, at the request of a witness, evidence is taken by the Committee in private—