Section 61T - Tabling of report in Parliament
Extract of legislation
| 61T | Tabling of report in Parliament | ||
| (1) | The Information Commissioner may cause a report to be transmitted to each House of the Parliament as soon as practicable after the investigation report has been completed. | ||
| (2) | The clerk of each House of the Parliament must cause the report to be laid before the House of the Parliament on the day on which it is received or on the next sitting day of the House of the Parliament. | ||
| (3) | If the Information Commissioner proposes to transmit a report to the Parliament on a day on which neither House of the Parliament is sitting, the Information Commissioner must— | ||
| (a) | give one business day’s notice of the intention to do so to the clerk of each House of the Parliament; and | ||
| (b) | give the report to the clerk of each House of the Parliament on the day indicated in the notice; and | ||
| (c) | publish the report on the Internet site of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner as soon as practicable after giving it to the clerks. | ||
| (4) | The clerk of each House of the Parliament must— | ||
| (a) | notify each member of the House of the Parliament of the receipt of a notice under subsection (3)(a) on the same day that the clerk receives that notice; and | ||
| (b) | give a copy of a report to each member of the House of the Parliament as soon as practicable after the report is received under subsection (3)(b); and | ||
| (c) | cause the report to be laid before the House of the Parliament on the next sitting day of the House of the Parliament. | ||
| (5) | If the Information Commissioner proposes to transmit a report to the Parliament under this section, the Information Commissioner must give an advance copy of the report to— | ||
| (a) | the Minister; and | ||
| (b) | the Secretary to the Department of Premier and Cabinet. | ||
| (6) | The copy of the report must be given at least one business day before— | ||
| (a) | if subsection (3) applies—the report is given to the clerk of each House of the Parliament; or | ||
| (b) | otherwise—the report is due to be transmitted to the Parliament. | ||
| (7) | The Information Commissioner is not required to give an advance copy of the report under subsection (5) if the Information Commissioner considers that in all the circumstances it would be inappropriate to do so. | ||
Although investigations are conducted in private,2 section 61T empowers the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) to publish the investigation report by sending it to the Victorian Parliament to be tabled.
OVIC will usually table a completed investigation report unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. For example, OVIC may not publish a report if publishing it would cause unreasonable harm to particular groups or individuals.
For more information on when OVIC publishes investigation reports, see OVIC’s Regulatory Action Policy, under Part 1 – OVIC’s Approach to Regulatory Action, ‘Publishing the results of regulatory action’.
Process for tabling reports
After an investigation report is complete, OVIC may send the report to be tabled in Parliament as soon as practicable after the investigation report has been completed.9 If OVIC sends the report for tabling, the clerk of each House of Parliament must cause the report to be laid before the House of Parliament on the day on which it was received or the next sitting day of Parliament.10
If OVIC sends the report on a day on which neither House of the Parliament is sitting, OVIC must:
- give one business’ day’s notice to the clerk;
- give the report to the clerk of each House of Parliament on the day indicated in the notice; and
- publish the report on OVIC’s website.11
Where this happens, the clerk of each House of Parliament must:
- on the day the clerk receives the notice, notify each member of the House that the notice has been received;
- give a copy of the report to each House member as soon as practicable; and
- cause the report to be laid before Parliament house on the next sitting day.12
If OVIC plans to send the report to Parliament, they must give an advance copy of the report to the Minister and the Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety.13
However, OVIC does not have to send an advance copy of the report to the Minister or Secretary if OVIC considers it would be inappropriate.14
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61P(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61P(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(2).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(3).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(4).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(5). Although the FOI Act refers to the ‘Secretary to the Department of Premier and Cabinet’, items 9 and 10 of the Administrative Arrangements Order No. 234, 2020 state that this should be read as a reference to the Secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(7).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(2).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(3).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(4).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(5). Although the FOI Act refers to the ‘Secretary to the Department of Premier and Cabinet’, items 9 and 10 of the Administrative Arrangements Order No. 234, 2020 state that this should be read as a reference to the Secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 61T(7).
