67Integrity Commissioner may comment on final report

#### 67 Integrity Commissioner may comment on final report Integrity Commissioner may make comments or recommendations (1) The Integrity Commissioner may, if he or she thinks fit, make comments or recommendations on any matter relating to or arising out of: (a) a report given to the Integrity Commissioner by the head of a Commonwealth government agency under section 66; or (b) the investigation to which the report relates. > Note: Under section 42, the Integrity Commissioner could, after receiving the report, reconsider how the corruption issue should be dealt with. (2) The Integrity Commissioner must put any such comments or recommendations in writing and give them to the head of the Commonwealth government agency. (3) If: (a) the Commonwealth government agency that gives the report to the Integrity Commissioner is the AFP; and (b) the corruption issue relates to another law enforcement agency; the Integrity Commissioner must also give the comments or recommendations to the head of that other law enforcement agency. (4) Without limiting subsection (1), the Integrity Commissioner may recommend that: (a) the head of a Commonwealth government agency take appropriate action with a view to having a person charged with a criminal offence; or (b) the head of a Commonwealth government agency take appropriate action: (i) to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a person; or (ii) to determine whether a person’s employment or appointment should be terminated; or (c) the Commonwealth government agency that gave the report to the Integrity Commissioner investigate the corruption issue further. > Note: Under section 42, the Integrity Commissioner could, instead of recommending that the agency investigate the corruption issue further, decide that the corruption issue should be dealt with in another way. Request for details of action to be taken (5) The Integrity Commissioner may request the head of the Commonwealth government agency to which the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendations are directed to give the Integrity Commissioner, within a specified time, details of any action that the head of the agency proposes to take with respect to the recommendations. (6) The head of the agency must comply with the request. (7) If the Integrity Commissioner is not satisfied with the response of the head of the agency to the request, the Integrity Commissioner may refer to the responsible Minister for the agency: (a) the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendation and the reasons for that recommendation; and (b) the response of the head of the agency to the recommendation; and (c) the Integrity Commissioner’s reasons for not being satisfied with that response. (8) If the Integrity Commissioner refers material to a Minister under subsection (7), the Integrity Commissioner may also send a copy of that material to: (a) the President of the Senate for presentation to the Senate; and (b) the Speaker of the House of Representatives for presentation to the House of Representatives. Section 149 certified information and sensitive information (9) The Integrity Commissioner must exclude section 149 certified information from the copy of the material sent under subsection (8). (10) The Integrity Commissioner may exclude information from the copy of the material sent under subsection (8) if the Integrity Commissioner is satisfied that: (a) the information is sensitive information; and (b) it is desirable in the circumstances to exclude the information from the material sent. (11) In deciding whether to exclude information from the copy of the material sent under subsection (8), the Integrity Commissioner must seek to achieve an appropriate balance between: (a) the public interest that would be served by including the information in the material sent; and (b) the prejudicial consequences that might result from including the information in the material sent. (12) After the material is presented to the Parliament, the Integrity Commissioner may discuss any matter to which the material relates with the head of the agency for the purpose of resolving the matter.