16Provisions relating to reports to Parliament

16 Provisions relating to reports to Parliament

16 Provisions relating to reports to Parliament

(1A) Any report to Parliament made by the Inspector under this Act is to be made by furnishing the report to the Presiding Officer of each House of Parliament.

(1) A copy of a report furnished to the Presiding Officer of a House of Parliament under this Part is to be laid before that House within 15 sitting days of that House after it is received by the Presiding Officer.

(2) The Inspector may include in a report a recommendation that the report be made public immediately.

(3) If a report includes a recommendation by the Inspector that the report be made public immediately, a Presiding Officer of a House of Parliament may make it public whether or not that House is in session and whether or not the report has been laid before that House.

(4) If such a report is made public by a Presiding Officer of a House of Parliament before it is laid before that House, it attracts the same privileges and immunities as if it had been laid before that House.

(5) A Presiding Officer need not inquire whether all or any conditions precedent have been satisfied as regards a report purporting to have been made and furnished in accordance with this Act.

(6) If a House of Parliament is not sitting when the Inspector seeks to make the report to that House, the Inspector may furnish the report to the Clerk of that House of Parliament rather than the Presiding Officer of that House.

(7) A report presented under subsection (6)—

(a) is, when furnished to the Clerk and for all purposes, taken to have been made to the House, and

(b) may be printed by authority of the Clerk of the House, and

(c) if so printed, is taken to be a document published by or under the authority of the House, and

(d) is to be recorded—

(i) in the case of the Legislative Council—in the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council, and

(ii) in the case of the Legislative Assembly—in the Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly,

on the first sitting day of the House after receipt of the report by the Clerk.