Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Gallagher I move:

That the order of the Senate of 20 June 2001, as amended on 27 September 2001, 18 June 2003, 26 June 2003, 4 December 2003 and 1 March 2007 for the production of documents relating to departmental and agency contracts, be amended as follows:

Omit paragraph (1), substitute:

(1) There be laid on the table, by each minister in the Senate, in respect of each entity administered by that minister, or by a minister in the House of Representatives represented by that minister, by not later than 2 calendar months after the last day of the financial and calendar year, a letter of advice that:

(a) a list of contracts in accordance with paragraph (2) has been placed on the Internet, with access to the list through the entity's home page; and

(b) includes an assurance by the entity head That the listed contracts do not contain any inappropriate confidentiality provisions.

After paragraph (1), insert:

     (1A) Order 1(b) takes effect from 1 July 2017.

Paragraph (2)(a), omit "agency", insert "entity".

After paragraph (2), insert:

     (2A) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) as it applies to procurement contracts only, access from an entity's home page may include a link to a complying report on AusTender. If an entity has contracts to report other than procurement contracts, there must be a dedicated link to a list of such contracts from an entity's home page in addition to any link to AusTender.

Paragraph (3)(b), omit "agencies", insert "entities".

Paragraph (4) omit "a department or agency", insert "an entity".

Paragraph (5) omit "each year", insert "2016 and 30 September 2018".

Paragraph (7) after the word "Administration" insert "References".

Omit paragraph (9), substitute:

(9) In this order:

  "complying report on AusTender" means a report in respect of an individual entity that meets the requirements of this order in respect of procurement contracts;

  "entity" means a Commonwealth entity within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, but does not include a trading Public Non-financial Corporation as classified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics;

  "inappropriate confidentiality provision" means a confidentiality provision that is not in accordance with guidance issued by the Department of Finance on compliance with this order and approved by the Finance and Public Administration References Committee; and

  "previous 12 months" means the period of 12 months ending on either 31 December or 30 June in any year, as the case may be.

After paragraph (9), insert:

(9A) Until 1 July 2017, entity is taken to mean a non-corporate Commonwealth entity within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

Question agreed to.