87Secrecy

#### 87 Secrecy (1) Each of the following persons is a person to whom this section applies: (a) an AFP appointee; (b) a person who is conducting an investigation on behalf of the Investigation Division in pursuance of an authority given under section 8; (c) a person who is conducting an investigation in accordance with arrangements made by the Commissioner under section 46; (d) a person who is conducting an inquiry in accordance with arrangements made by the Minister under section 50. (2) Subject to this section, a person who is, or has been, a person to whom this section applies, shall not, either directly or indirectly, and either while he or she is, or after he or she has ceased to be, a person to whom this section applies, except in the performance of his or her duties or with the consent, in writing, of the appropriate person, make a record of, or divulge or communicate, prescribed information acquired at any time by the person because he or she is, or has been, a person to whom this section applies. Penalty: 30 penalty units. (3) Subsection (2) does not: (a) prevent a person who is, or has been, a person to whom this section applies from disclosing, in a report under this Act, such matters as, in his or her opinion, ought to be disclosed in the course of setting out the grounds for the conclusions contained in the report; or (b) prevent a person from producing a record referred to in subsection (2) or giving information so referred to in evidence before a court, the Disciplinary Tribunal or a person who is authorized to hear and determine proceedings instituted against an AFP appointee in respect of a breach of discipline. (3A) Subsection (2) does not prevent the Commissioner from disclosing information, or making a statement, to any person or to the public or a section of the public with respect to the performance of the functions of, or an investigation or inquiry by, the Investigation Division if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, it is in the interests of the Australian Federal Police or of any person, or is otherwise in the public interest, to do so, having regard to whether the disclosure of that information, or the making of that statement would, or could reasonably be expected to: (a) prejudice the fair trial of a person or the impartial adjudication of a particular matter; (b) reveal, or enable a person to ascertain, the existence or identity of a confidential source of information or the identity of a complainant; (c) constitute an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of any person; or (d) endanger the physical safety of any person. (4) Subsection (2) does not prevent an AFP appointee from making a communication for the purposes of, or in connection with, the making of a complaint to the Ombudsman or to the Commissioner in respect of action taken by a member of the Investigation Division or by an AFP appointee or other person authorized under section 8 to make an investigation on behalf of that Division, in the course of, or for the purposes of, an investigation by that Division. (5) For the purposes of this section: (a) the Ombudsman is the appropriate person in the case of a person who is conducting, or has conducted, an investigation in accordance with arrangements made by the Commissioner under section 46 and is or was required, under section 48, to report to the Ombudsman in relation to the investigation; (b) the Minister is the appropriate person in the case of a person who is conducting, or has conducted, an inquiry in accordance with arrangements made under section 50; and (c) the Commissioner is the appropriate person in the case of any other person to whom this section applies. (6) In this section, a reference to the duties of a person to whom this section applies shall be construed as a reference to the duties of the position or appointment by virtue of the holding of which the person is or was a person to whom this section applies. (7) In subsection (2), prescribed information means information supplied to or obtained by the Australian Federal Police in the course of, or for the purposes of, the investigation of a complaint, or the holding of an inquiry, concerning action taken by an AFP appointee.