Australian Capital Territory
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004    
A2004-8
Republication No 3
Effective:  2 July 2005 – 30 June 2011
Republication date: 2 July 2005
(republication for commenced expiry)

Unauthorised version prepared by ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office

About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 (including any amendment made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)) as in force on 2 July 2005.  It also includes any amendment, repeal or expiry affecting the republished law.  
The legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes 3 and 4. 
Kinds of republications
The Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the ACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):
•	authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies
•	unauthorised republications.
The status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.
Editorial changes
The Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial amendments and other changes of a formal nature when preparing a law for republication.  Editorial changes do not change the effect of the law, but have effect as if they had been made by an Act commencing on the republication date (see Legislation Act 2001, s 115 and s 117).  The changes are made if the Parliamentary Counsel considers they are desirable to bring the law into line, or more closely into line, with current legislative drafting practice.  
This republication does not include amendments made under part 11.3 (see endnote 1).
Uncommenced provisions and amendments
If a provision of the republished law has not commenced or is affected by an uncommenced amendment, the symbol  U  appears immediately before the provision heading.  The text of the uncommenced provision or amendment appears only in the last endnote.
Modifications
If a provision of the republished law is affected by a current modification, the symbol  M  appears immediately before the provision heading.  The text of the modifying provision appears in the endnotes.  For the legal status of modifications, see Legislation Act 2001, section 95.
Penalties
The value of a penalty unit for an offence against this republished law at the republication date is—
	(a)	if the person charged is an individual—$100; or
	(b)	if the person charged is a corporation—$500.

Australian Capital Territory
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004

Contents
	Page

Part 1	Preliminary
	1	Name of Act	2
	3	Dictionary	2
	4	Notes	2
Part 2	Annual reports
	5	Annual report of chief executive	3
	6	Annual report of public authority	3
	7	Annual report of commissioner for public administration	4
	8	Consultation about annual report direction	4
	9	Annual report direction	5
Part 3	Responsible Ministers
	10	Responsible Minister for chief executive annual report	7
	11	Responsible Minister for public authority annual report	7
	12	Declaration of responsible Minister for public authority	7
Part 4	Presentation of annual reports
	13	Responsible Minister to present annual report	8
	14	Extension of time for presenting annual reports	9
	15	Presentation of annual report of auditor-general	10
Part 5	Miscellaneous
	16	Declaration of public authority	12
	17	Combined reports	12
	18	Relationship to other laws	13
Dictionary		14
Endnotes
	1	About the endnotes	16
	2	Abbreviation key	16
	3	Legislation history	17
	4	Amendment history	17
	5	Earlier republications	18

Australian Capital Territory
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004

An Act relating to annual reports for certain government agencies, and for other purposes

    

Part 1	Preliminary
1	Name of Act
This Act is the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004.
3	Dictionary
The dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.
Note 1	The dictionary at the end of this Act defines terms used in this Act, and includes references (signpost definitions) to other terms defined elsewhere in this Act.
	For example, the signpost definition ‘chief executive annual report—see section 5.’ means that the term ‘chief executive annual report’ is defined in that section.
Note 2	A definition in the dictionary (including a signpost definition) applies to the entire Act unless the definition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the contrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and s 156 (1)).
4	Notes
A note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.
Note	See Legislation Act, s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of notes.

Part 2	Annual reports
5	Annual report of chief executive
	(1)	The chief executive of an administrative unit must, for each financial year, prepare a report (a chief executive annual report) about the operations of the administrative unit during the year.
	(2)	The report must—
	(a)	include a statement describing the measures taken by the administrative unit during the financial year to respect, protect and promote human rights; and
	(b)	comply with any applicable annual report direction.
	(3)	In this section:
financial year includes, for an administrative unit that begins operation during a financial year, the part of the financial year during which the administrative unit operates.
Note	This definition extends the meaning of financial year as defined in the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1.
6	Annual report of public authority
	(1)	A public authority must, for each financial year, prepare a report (a public authority annual report) about the operations of the authority during the year.
	(2)	The report must comply with any applicable annual report direction.
	(3)	In this section:
financial year includes—
	(a)	for a public authority for which a direction under section 9 (3) (d) (Annual report direction) is in effect—the period stated in the direction; and
	(b)	for a public authority that begins operation during a financial year and for which no direction under section 9 (3) (d) is in effect—the part of the financial year during which the public authority operates.
Note 1	This definition extends the meaning of financial year as defined in the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1.
Note 2	The auditor-general is a public authority (see dict, def public authority).  However, the auditor-general is not required to comply with this Act in certain circumstances (see the Auditor-General Act 1996, s 9A (Reports for Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004)).
7	Annual report of commissioner for public administration
	(1)	The commissioner for public administration must, for each financial year, prepare a report (a public administration annual report) about the operations of the public service during the year.
	(2)	The report must—
	(a)	include an account of the management of the public service as a whole during the financial year; and
	(b)	comply with any applicable annual report direction.
8	Consultation about annual report direction
	(1)	Before issuing an annual report direction under section 9, the Minister must consult the standing committee of the Legislative Assembly responsible for the scrutiny of public accounts.
	(2)	The committee may make a recommendation to the Minister about the proposed direction.
	(3)	The Minister must not issue the direction until the Minister has received a recommendation or 30 days have passed since the consultation took place, whichever happens first.
9	Annual report direction
	(1)	The Minister must, in writing, issue a direction (an annual report direction) about annual reports.
	(2)	In issuing an annual report direction, the Minister must have regard to any recommendation received under section 8.
	(3)	An annual report direction may—
	(a)	require an annual report to be in a stated form or include stated information; or
	(b)	for a chief executive annual report—require the report to include (as an attachment or otherwise) a public authority annual report; or
	(c)	for a public authority annual report—require the report to be given to a chief executive for inclusion (as an attachment or otherwise) in a chief executive annual report; or
	(d)	for a public authority annual report—require the authority to prepare the report for a stated period other than a financial year; or
	(e)	for a public authority annual report—require the report to include a statement describing the measures taken by the public authority during the financial year to respect, protect and promote human rights; or
Note	Financial year has an extended meaning in this Act (see dict).
	(f)	require an annual report to be given by a stated person or stated public authority to the responsible Minister for the report by a stated day; or
	(g)	require a chief executive annual report to include stated matters if a public authority fails to comply with section 6 (Annual report of public authority) or an annual report direction.
	(4)	An annual report direction is a notifiable instrument.
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.
	(5)	An annual report direction must be presented to the Legislative Assembly within 6 sitting days after the day it is notified under the Legislation Act.

Part 3	Responsible Ministers
10	Responsible Minister for chief executive annual report 
The responsible Minister for a chief executive annual report of the chief executive of an administrative unit is the Minister allocated responsibility for the administrative unit under the Public Sector Management Act 1994, section 14 (1) (a) (Ministerial responsibility and functions of administrative units).
11	Responsible Minister for public authority annual report 
	(1)	The responsible Minister for a public authority annual report is—
	(a)	for a public authority established or appointed under an Act—the Minister administering the Act in the relevant respect; or
	(b)	for any other public authority—the Minister declared under section 12 to be the responsible Minister for the public authority.
	(2)	This section does not apply in relation to an annual report of the auditor-general.
12	Declaration of responsible Minister for public authority
	(1)	The Chief Minister may, in writing, declare that a Minister is the responsible Minister for a public authority other than the auditor-general.
	(2)	A declaration is a notifiable instrument.
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.

Part 4	Presentation of annual reports
13	Responsible Minister to present annual report
	(1)	Subject to subsection (4), the responsible Minister for an annual report must present the report to the Legislative Assembly—
	(a)	within 3 months after the end of the financial year (the 3‑month period); and
	(b)	on the day declared by the Chief Minister under subsection (2) for the report (if any).
	(2)	The Chief Minister may, in writing, declare that an annual report must be presented to the Legislative Assembly on a stated day that is within the 3-month period.
	(3)	A declaration is a notifiable instrument.
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.
	(4)	If an annual report has not been presented to the Legislative Assembly before the last 7 days of the 3-month period for the report, and there are no sitting days of the Legislative Assembly during the 7 days—
	(a)	the responsible Minister must give the report, and a copy for each member of the Legislative Assembly, to the Speaker before the end of the 3-month period; and
	(b)	the Speaker must arrange for a copy of the report to be given to each member of the Legislative Assembly on the day the responsible Minister gives it to the Speaker; and
	(c)	the responsible Minister must present the report to the Legislative Assembly—
	(i)	on the next sitting day after the end of the 3-month period; or
	(ii)	if the next sitting day is the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly after a general election of members of the Assembly—on the second sitting day after the election.
	(5)	This section has effect subject to section 14.
	(6)	In this section:
Speaker includes—
	(a)	if the Speaker is unavailable—the Deputy Speaker; and
	(b)	if both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are unavailable—the clerk of the Legislative Assembly.
unavailable—the Speaker or Deputy Speaker is unavailable if—
	(a)	he or she is absent from duty; or
	(b)	there is a vacancy in the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker.
14	Extension of time for presenting annual reports
	(1)	The responsible Minister for an annual report may apply to the Chief Minister for an extension of the time when the Minister must present the report to the Legislative Assembly or, if section 13 (4) applies, when the responsible Minister must give the report to the Speaker.
	(2)	An application for an extension must be made before the end of the 3-month period for the report and, if the Chief Minister has declared a day under section 13 (2) for the report, before that day.
	(3)	The application must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for the failure to meet the time.
	(4)	The Chief Minister may extend the time by—
	(a)	setting a period within which the report must be presented to the Legislative Assembly; or
	(b)	fixing a day when the report must be presented to the Legislative Assembly.
	(5)	If the extension has been granted, the responsible Minister must present the report to the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the extension.
	(6)	However, if there are no sitting days of the Legislative Assembly during the period mentioned in subsection (4) (a), section 13 (4) (a) to (c) applies as if a reference to the 3-month period were a reference to the period mentioned in subsection (4) (a).
	(7)	The statement mentioned in subsection (3) must be presented to the Legislative Assembly during the 3-month period for the report and, if the Chief Minister has declared a day under section 13 (2) for the report, on or before that day.
	(8)	In this section:
3-month period—see section 13 (1).
15	Presentation of annual report of auditor-general
	(1)	The Speaker must present an annual report of the auditor-general to the Legislative Assembly within 3 months after the end of the financial year (the 3-month period).
	(2)	However, if an annual report of the auditor-general has not been presented to the Legislative Assembly before the last 7 days of the 3-month period for the report, and there are no sitting days of the Legislative Assembly during the 7 days—
	(a)	the auditor-general must give a copy of the report for each member of the Legislative Assembly to the Speaker before the end of the 3-month period; and
	(b)	the Speaker must arrange for a copy of the report to be given to each member of the Legislative Assembly on the day the auditor-general gives it to the Speaker; and
	(c)	the Speaker must present the report to the Legislative Assembly—
	(i)	on the next sitting day after the end of the 3-month period; or
	(ii)	if the next sitting day is the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly after a general election of members of the Assembly—on the second sitting day after the election.
	(3)	At the request of the auditor-general, the Speaker may present a report of the auditor-general to the Legislative Assembly after the time required under subsection (1) or, if applicable, subsection (2).
	(4)	If subsection (3) applies, the Speaker must present the report to the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible.

Part 5	Miscellaneous
16	Declaration of public authority
	(1)	The Minister may, in writing, declare that a statutory office-holder is a public authority for the dictionary, definition of public authority.
	(2)	The Minister may, in writing, declare that an authority, tribunal, commission, council, board, institute, committee, organisation or other entity established under an Act is a public authority for the dictionary, definition of public authority.
	(3)	A declaration under this section is a notifiable instrument.
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.
17	Combined reports
	(1)	This section applies if—
	(a)	a person is required to prepare more than 1 report under this Act in relation to the same financial year; and
	(b)	the person considers that the reports can appropriately be combined into a single report that complies with this Act.
Note	A reference to an Act includes a reference to the statutory instruments made or in force under the Act (see Legislation Act, s 104).
	(2)	The preparation of a combined report, and presentation of the report to the Legislative Assembly, is taken to comply with the requirements of this Act about the preparation and presentation of the reports that have been combined.
18	Relationship to other laws
	(1)	This Act is in addition to the requirements of any other Territory law.
	(2)	If a public authority is required under any other law to prepare a report on the operation of the authority, the authority may prepare a report that complies with both this Act and the other law.

Dictionary
(see s 3)
Note 1	The Legislation Act contains definitions and other provisions relevant to this Act.
Note 2	For example, the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1 defines the following terms:
·	administrative unit
·	auditor-general
·	chief executive (see s 163)
·	Chief Minister
·	clerk (of the Legislative Assembly)
·	commissioner for public administration
·	entity
·	Minister (see s 162)
·	notifiable instrument (see s 10)
·	public service
·	sitting day
·	statutory office-holder
·	Territory owned corporation.
annual report means—
	(a)	a chief executive annual report; or
	(b)	a public authority annual report; or
	(c)	a public administration annual report.
annual report direction—see section 9.
chief executive annual report—see section 5.
financial year—
	(a)	for a chief executive annual report—see section 5 (3); or
	(b)	for a public authority annual report—see section 6 (3).
public administration annual report—see section 7.
public authority means—
	(a)	a Territory instrumentality; or
	(b)	a statutory office-holder declared under section 16 (1) to be a public authority; or
	(c)	an entity declared under section 16 (2) to be a public authority; or
	(d)	the auditor-general.
public authority annual report—see section 6.
responsible Minister—
	(a)	for a chief executive annual report—see section 10; or
	(b)	for a public authority annual report—see section 11; or
	(c)	for a public administration annual report—means the Chief Minister.
Speaker—see section 13 (6) (Responsible Minister to present annual report).
Territory instrumentality—
	(a)	see the Legislation Act, dictionary, part 1; and
	(b)	includes a Territory owned corporation.

Endnotes
1	About the endnotes
Amending and modifying laws are annotated in the legislation history and the amendment history.  Current modifications are not included in the republished law but are set out in the endnotes.
Not all editorial amendments made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 are annotated in the amendment history.  Full details of any amendments can be obtained from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Uncommenced amending laws and expiries are listed in the legislation history and the amendment history.  These details are underlined.  Uncommenced provisions and amendments are not included in the republished law but are set out in the last endnote.
If all the provisions of the law have been renumbered, a table of renumbered provisions gives details of previous and current numbering.  
The endnotes also include a table of earlier republications.
2	Abbreviation key

am = amended	ord = ordinance	
amdt = amendment	orig = original	
ch = chapter	par = paragraph/subparagraph	
def = definition	pres = present	
dict = dictionary	prev = previous	
disallowed = disallowed by the Legislative 	(prev...) = previously	
Assembly	pt = part	
div = division	r = rule/subrule	
exp = expires/expired	renum = renumbered	
Gaz = gazette	reloc = relocated	
hdg = heading	R[X] = Republication No	
IA = Interpretation Act 1967	RI = reissue	
ins = inserted/added	s = section/subsection	
LA = Legislation Act 2001	sch = schedule	
LR = legislation register	sdiv = subdivision	
LRA = Legislation (Republication) Act 1996	sub = substituted	
mod = modified/modification	SL = Subordinate Law	
o = order	underlining = whole or part not commenced	
om = omitted/repealed	or to be expired	
3	Legislation history
Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 A2004-8
notified LR 19 March 2004
s 1, s 2 commenced 19 March 2004 (LA s 75 (1))
pt 6 commenced 1 July 2004 (s 20 and see Human Rights Act 2004 A2004-5 s 2)
remainder commenced 13 April 2004 (s 2 and CN2004-5)
4	Amendment history
Commencement
s 2	om LA s 89 (4)
Annual report of chief executive
s 5	am A2004-8 s 21
Annual report direction
s 9	am A2004-8 s 22; pars renum R2 LA (see A2004-8 s 23)
Application of Act
s 19	exp 1 July 2005 (s 19 (2))
Amendments of section 5 and section 9—human rights
pt 6 hdg	om R2 LA
Application of pt 6
s 20	om R2 LA
Act, section 5 (2)
s 21	om LA s 89 (3)
Act, new section 9 (3) (da) and note
s 22	om LA s 89 (3)
Act, section 9 (3)
s 23	om LA s 89 (3)
Expiry of pt 6
s 24	om R2 LA
Repeals and consequential amendments
pt 7 hdg	om LA s 89 (3)
Act repealed
s 25	om LA s 89 (3)
Instruments repealed
s 26	om LA s 89 (3)
Auditor-General Act 1996, new section 9A
s 27	om LA s 89 (3)
5	Earlier republications
Some earlier republications were not numbered. The number in column 1 refers to the publication order.  
Since 12 September 2001 every authorised republication has been published in electronic pdf format on the ACT legislation register.  A selection of authorised republications have also been published in printed format. These republications are marked with an asterisk (*) in column 1.  Except for the footer, electronic and printed versions of an authorised republication are identical. 

Republication No and date	Effective	Last amendment made by	Republication for	
R1
13 Apr 2004	13 Apr 2004‑
30 June 2004	not amended	new Act	
R2
1 July 2004	1 July 2004–
1 July 2005	not amended	amendments on commencement of A2004-5	

©  Australian Capital Territory 2005