Can the Auditor General's report be released now? Probably - if the Parties all want to

The Auditor General Act is a bit awkward. It has been repeated amended but not always modernised.

For example sometimes the Auditor General is called "he" sometime "he or she".

That makes some sense as the Office of Auditor General is quite old being first created in 1878. Originally, the Auditor General's duties quite narrow — they were limited to examining and reporting on past transactions and issuing government cheques.

Today the Auditor General has evolved into a watchdog of government waste -- and it's that role that the G8 report goes to.

Ss 7 and 8 deal with the reports the Auditor General makes to Parliament. The sections have similar language and do not forbid release when Parliament is not sitting. The customary process, however, clearly is to provide the reports to a sitting Parliament.

S 8 for example provides that reports be:
"submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons and shall be laid before the House of Commons by the Speaker of the House of Commons forthwith after receipt thereof by him, or if that House is not then sitting, on the first day next thereafter that the House of Commons is sitting"

S. 7 is similar in language.

An interesting alternative is s. 11 which allows for Cabinet to ask for an inquiry and report. Presumably this Government could ask for such inquiry in terms of the G8 report and then could release it if it wished. (As opposed to leaking a draft).

The other option is for all Parties to agree the report should be released and then the fact the custom is to report to a sitting Parliament could be overcome by consent.

Either way, if there was a real desire by all Parties to release the G8 report, it could be done.