Bills

Statutes Amendment (Budget Measures 2021) Bill

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments and suggested amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments and suggested amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

SCHEDULE OF THE AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

No. 1 New Part, page 7, after line 20—Insert:

Part 5A—Amendment of Public Finance and Audit Act 1987

11A—Insertion of Part 3A

After section 39 insert:

Part 3A—Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service

39A—Establishment of Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service

(1) The Treasurer must, in each relevant election period, establish and maintain a Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service (PBAS) in accordance with this section.

(2) The PBAS is to be established under the Public Sector Act 2009 as an attached office to a government department administered by the Treasurer.

(3) The function of the PBAS established in a relevant election period is to provide independent and consistent costings of policies developed by registered political parties and other candidates for the relevant general election in a timely manner and in a form which is useful to the candidates for informing the public in advance of the election.

(4) The Treasurer must ensure that—

(a) the level of funding provided for the PBAS is sufficient to enable it to act with all due speed in relation to requests for costings and to deal with multiple such requests at the same time; and

(b) the PBAS is managed by an executive employee of a public sector agency (within the meaning of the Public Sector Act 2009); and

(c) the general staffing and administrative arrangements for the PBAS will allow it to properly carry out its function; and

(d) the PBAS remains available to deal with requests for costings throughout the whole of the relevant election period.

(5) Except as may be necessary for the purpose of providing a costing to a registered political party or candidate, a person carrying out official functions of, or in relation to, the PBAS must not disclose any information obtained in the performance of those functions to any person who isn't carrying out official functions of, or in relation to, the PBAS and, in particular, must not directly or indirectly disclose such information to—

(a) any other registered political party or candidate (not being the registered political party or candidate that requested the costing); or

(b) any Minister or Ministerial staff.

Maximum penalty: $2,500 or imprisonment for 6 months.

(6) The PBAS established in a relevant election period must provide a report on its operations to the Treasurer by 30 April in the year of the relevant general election.

(7) The Treasurer must, within 12 sitting days after receipt of a report under this section, cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of Parliament.

(8) The copy of the report to be laid before Parliament must set out in a prominent position the date on which it was presented to the Treasurer and if the report is presented to the Treasurer after the end of the period allowed under this section, the report must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for the delay and the statement must be laid before each House of Parliament together with the report.

(9) In this section—

relevant election period means the period commencing on 1 July in the year immediately before a general election of members of the House of Assembly is held in accordance with section 28(1) of the Constitution Act 1934 and ending on the day of that general election (and includes, if this section comes into operation during a relevant election period, the remainder of that relevant election period).

11B—Transitional provision

For the avoidance of doubt, Part 3A of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 (as inserted by this Act) applies (on and after the commencement of Part 3A) for the remainder of the relevant election period that commenced on 1 July 2021.

No. 2 New Part, page 7, after line 20—Insert:

Part 5A—Amendment of Public Finance and Audit Act 1987

11C—Insertion of section 41B

After section 41A insert:

41B—Approval of Auditor-General required for certain government advertising expenditure

(1) The principal officer of a government agency must ensure that the agency does not expend or incur expenditure of more than $10,000 on government advertising published or caused to be published by the government agency during a relevant election period, unless the government advertising is approved by the Auditor-General or by resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament.

(2) The Auditor-General may only grant an approval for the purposes of subsection (1) (a section 41B approval) if satisfied that the government advertising is necessary for the proper functions of government.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), government advertising will be taken to be necessary for the proper functions of government if the Auditor-General is satisfied that the primary purpose of the government advertising is to communicate information relating to the following:

(a) public health and public safety;

(b) road and public transport works or interruptions;

(c) emergencies;

(d) legal or statutory matters;

(e) electoral material published under the authority of the Electoral Commissioner;

(f) the engagement or employment of persons in the service of the government;

(g) attendance at an event;

(h) tourism;

(i) auctions and other sales of property, goods and services;

(j) courses at tertiary educational institutions.

Note—

Government advertising for the purposes of generally promoting government programs or achievements, government spending or the future delivery of infrastructure projects or initiatives is not to be regarded as necessary for the proper functions of government.

(4) The Auditor-General must, within 7 days of the end of each month that falls in a relevant election period, publish a report on the details of each section 41B approval granted during the month to which the report relates.

(5) Notice of a motion for a resolution under subsection (1) must be given at least 3 sitting days before the motion is passed.

(6) In this section—

government advertising means advertising by a government agency (whether comprised of a single advertisement or a series of advertisements) and includes a promotional campaign;

government agency means—

(a) a Minister; or

(b) an administrative unit of the Public Service; or

(c) an agency or instrumentality of the Crown; or

(d) any other person or body declared under the Public Sector Act 2009 to be a public sector agency;

principal officer, in relation to a government agency, means—

(a) if the agency consists of a single person (including a corporation sole but not any other body corporate)—that person;

(b) if the agency consists of an unincorporated board or committee—the presiding officer;

(c) in any other case—the chief executive officer of the agency or a person determined by the Auditor-General to be the principal officer of the agency;

relevant election period means the period commencing on 1 July in the year immediately before a general election of members of the House of Assembly is held in accordance with section 28(1) of the Constitution Act 1934 and ending on the day of that general election (and includes, if this section comes into operation during a relevant election period, the remainder of that relevant election period).

(7) For the purposes of this section, a reference to advertising published or caused to be published by a government agency includes a reference to advertising that the government agency pays for or arranges the placement of.

(8) The Auditor-General may exercise the Auditor-General's powers under section 34 of this Act for the purposes of determining whether or not to grant a section 41B approval and section 34 applies as if—

(a) a reference to the conduct of an audit or review, or the making of an examination; and

(b) a reference to an audit, review or examination,

were a reference to the determination whether or not to grant a section 41B approval.

11D—Transitional provision

(1) For the avoidance of doubt, section 41B of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 (as inserted by section 11A of this Act) applies (on and after the commencement of section 11A) for the remainder of the relevant election period that commenced on 1 July 2021 to government advertising published or caused to be published on or after that commencement, including government advertising under a contract or arrangement entered into before the commencement of section 11A.

(2) If government advertising under a contract or arrangement of a kind referred to in subsection (1) is not approved under section 41B of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987, the government agency remains liable for any amounts payable under the contract (as if the government advertising were published in accordance with the contract).

No. 3 Long title—After 'Payroll Tax Act 2009' insert:

, the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987

SCHEDULE OF THE SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

No. 1. Clause 4, page 3, lines 15 and 16 [clause 4, inserted section 7A(1)(c)]—Delete 'guidelines approved by the Treasurer for the purposes of this section' and substitute:

the regulations

No. 2. Clause 4, page 3, line 20 [clause 4, inserted section 7A(2)]—Delete 'The guidelines' and substitute:

Regulations made for the purposes of this section

No. 3. Clause 4, page 3, line 37 [clause 4, inserted section 7A(3)]—Delete 'A guideline' and substitute:

Regulations made for the purposes of this section

No. 4. Clause 4, page 4, line 5 [clause 4, inserted section 7A(4)]—Delete 'guidelines' and substitute:

regulations

No. 5. Clause 4, page 4, lines 10 and 11 [clause 4, inserted section 7A(5)]—Delete 'guidelines approved by the Treasurer for the purposes of this section' and substitute:

the regulations

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Cowdrey): Minister, the amendments to be taken into consideration?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The next day of sitting.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (18:45): I move:

That the amendments of the Legislative Council be taken into consideration forthwith.

Ayes 21

Noes 23

Majority 2