34Public interest complaint may be treated as referral instead

34 Public interest complaint may be treated as referral instead

(1) If the Commission is not satisfied of the matters specified in section 33(2) but is satisfied that the public interest complaint contains an allegation that a current or former Member, Minister or Parliamentary Secretary has engaged in parliamentary misconduct, the Commission may treat the complaint as a referral made under section 8.

(2) This Act, except sections 8(3) and (4), 9(2) and 11(7), applies in respect of a public interest complaint that is treated as a referral as if—

(a) the person who made the disclosure that was determined to be the complaint were the referrer; and

(b) the current or former Member, Minister or Parliamentary Secretary referred to in the complaint were the person who is the subject of the referral.

(3) If the Commission decides under subsection (1) to treat a public interest complaint as a referral made under section 8, the Commission must give written notice of its decision, including the reason for the decision, to the person who made the disclosure that was determined to be the public interest complaint.

See Division 2 for the process by which the Commission may deal with a public interest complaint that it has decided to treat as a referral instead.