36CAnswering questions where State Attorney‑General intervenes on public interest grounds

36C Answering questions where State Attorney‑General intervenes on public interest grounds

Scope (1AA) This section does not apply to a proceeding in the Security Division to which section 39A or 39BA applies. Intervention by State Attorney‑General (1) Where, at the hearing of a proceeding before the Tribunal, a person is asked a question in the course of giving evidence, the Attorney‑General of a State may inform the Tribunal that, in his or her opinion, the answering of the question would be contrary to the public interest for a specified reason or reasons, being a reason or reasons mentioned in subsection 36B(1). When person excused from answering question (2) Where the Attorney‑General of a State informs the Tribunal that, in his or her opinion, the answering by a person of a question would be contrary to the public interest, that person is excused from answering the question unless: (a) if the reason specified is, or the reasons specified include, a reason referred to in paragraph 36B(1)(a)—a court, on an appeal under section 44 or a reference under section 45, decides that the answering of the question would not be contrary to the public interest; or (b) otherwise—the Tribunal decides that the answering of the question would not be contrary to the public interest. State Attorney‑General taken to be a party (3) Where the Attorney‑General of a State informs the Tribunal that, in his or her opinion, the answering by a person of a question at the hearing of a proceeding would be contrary to the public interest and, but for this subsection, that Attorney‑General would not be a party to the proceeding, that Attorney‑General shall, for the purposes of this Act, be taken to be a party to the proceeding.