THE GOVERNMENT PROCEEDINGS ACT

This section gives the Act’s short title: Government Proceedings Act.

This section defines several terms used in the Act and explains how certain references to civil proceedings involving the Government should be read.

The Government is liable in certain civil claims like a private person, but tort proceedings are barred in specified cases.

If the Government has liability under this Part, the law on indemnity and contribution applies to and against it as if it were a private adult with capacity, except for acts done under statutory powers.

This Part does not remove or reduce Government powers or authorities that would otherwise be exercised under written law.

Civil proceedings may be brought against the Government, but only after the claimant gives at least 90 days’ notice and follows the section’s filing and joinder rules.

The Attorney General may intervene, through the Solicitor General, in suits or matters involving certain government bodies, and those bodies must notify the Attorney General before such suits. If the Attorney General intervenes, the 90-day notice requirement for suing the Government does not apply.

Civil proceedings against the Government may only be started in the High Court.

Civil proceedings by or against the Government must follow the same procedure used for similar proceedings between private persons, subject to this Act.

The Government may start or join interpleader proceedings, even if they were started by a court broker or similar officer.

Civil proceedings involving the Government are generally brought by or against the Attorney General, unless the Minister orders otherwise in the Gazette.

If a Government case is in magistrate’s court and the defendant meets the listed conditions, the court must transfer it to the High Court for trial.

In civil proceedings involving the Government, the court may make orders and give appropriate relief, subject to this Act.

In civil cases involving the Government, the court must treat costs like ordinary private-party cases and may order costs to or from the Government, subject to stated exceptions.

Rules on appeals and stay of execution apply, with necessary modifications, to civil cases involving the Government as they do between private persons.

Rules on interest in money decrees and on costs apply to Government the same way they apply to a private person.

In civil cases involving the Government, the court officer must issue a certificate of the order on application, and government accounting officers must pay certified amounts and lawful interest, subject to any court-ordered suspension.

Government orders in civil proceedings may be enforced like orders between private persons, subject to this Act.

In civil proceedings where the Government is a party, the court may require the Government to produce documents, allow inspection, and answer interrogatories, subject to any law protecting public interest.

The Government may rely on any law as a defence in civil proceedings against it, unless an express provision says otherwise.

This section says the Act does not take away the Government’s right to rely on written laws about time limits for starting proceedings.

The Chief Justice may make rules for this Act, and those rules can set special procedure for cases involving the Government.

This section says the Act does not affect proceedings started before the Act began, unless the Act expressly says otherwise.

This section repeals the Government Proceedings Act.

This section says the Act does not increase the Government’s liability for independent contractors, change certain laws or evidentiary rules about government liability, or limit liability under specified Administrator-General and Public Trustee laws, except where the Act expressly says otherwise.