178Secrecy

178 Secrecy (1) In this section: court includes a tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.

Secrecy and information sharing Part 5.1 formal warning—see section 116 (2). information sharing guidelines—see section 179. produce includes allow access to. (2) A relevant person commits an offence if— (a) the person— (i) makes a record of protected information about someone (ii) is reckless about whether the information is protected information about someone else; or (i) does something that divulges protected information about someone else; and (ii) is reckless about whether— (A) the information is protected information about someone else; and (B) doing the thing would result in the information being divulged to someone else. (3) Subsection (2) does not apply to the divulging of protected information about someone with the person’s consent. (4) Subsection (2) does not apply if the record is made, or the information is divulged— (a) under this Act or another law in force in the ACT; or

(b) in relation to the exercise of a function, as a relevant person, under this Act or another law in force in the ACT; or (c) in relation to the administration of this Act; or (d) to a competent authority, a corresponding competent authority or an authorised person; or (e) to a police officer or a member (however described) of the police force or police service of another jurisdiction; or (f) to a public authority of any jurisdiction prescribed by regulation; or (g) to a public authority of any jurisdiction for law enforcement purposes; or (h) to a court or in relation to any legal proceeding; or (i) in accordance with the information sharing guidelines. (5) A relevant person need not divulge protected information to a court, or produce a document containing protected information to a court, unless it is necessary to do so for this Act or another law in force in the ACT. (6) This section does not prevent information from being used— (a) to assist a person in deciding whether to withdraw a formal warning for any offence; or (b) to allow a competent authority to accumulate aggregated data and to allow the authority to authorise use of the aggregated data for research or education.

Secrecy and information sharing Part 5.1