sec.426Confidentiality

sec.426 Confidentiality

This section applies to a person— who is or has been— the chief executive or a public service employee in the department; or an employee of a State school; or a minister, or an accredited representative, of a religious denomination or society mentioned in section 76 (1) ; or a member of an association; and who, in that capacity, has gained or has access to personal information about— a student, prospective student or former student of a State school; or a kindergarten age child— who is or has been registered in a kindergarten learning program at a State school; or for whom an application for registration has been made under section 419B ; or who is or has been registered in a distance education kindergarten learning program; or for whom an application for registration has been made under section 419F ; or a person with a disability who— under section 420 (2) , is being provided with special education at a State school; and is not enrolled in the preparatory year at the school; or a child— who is or has been provisionally registered, or registered, for home education under chapter 9 , part 5 ; or for whom an application for provisional registration, or registration, has been made under chapter 9 , part 5 . This section also applies to a person— who is or has been an employee of a relevant non-State school; and who, in that capacity, has gained or has access to personal information, contained in a transfer note, about— a former student or continuing student of the school; or a kindergarten age child— who is or has been registered in a kindergarten learning program at the school; or for whom an application for registration has been made under section 419B ; or a person with a disability who— under section 420 (2) , is being provided with special education at the school; and is not enrolled in the preparatory year at the school. This section also applies to a person— who is or has been the chief executive or a public service employee in the department; and who, in that capacity, has gained or has access to personal information about a student, prospective student or former student of a recognised school. The person must not make a record of the information, use the information or disclose the information to anyone else, other than— for a purpose of this Act; or with the consent of the person to whom the information relates, or if the person is a child unable to consent, with the consent of a parent of the child; or in compliance with lawful process requiring production of documents or giving of evidence before a court or tribunal; or as permitted or required under subsection (4A) or another Act; or with the written consent of the chief executive, who may give the consent if he or she is reasonably satisfied the recording, use or disclosure is— necessary to assist in averting a serious risk to the life, health or safety of a person, including the person to whom the information relates; or in the public interest; or necessary for research, or the compilation or analysis of statistics, if— the research, compilation or analysis is in the public interest; and the recording, use or disclosure does not involve the publication of all or any of the information in a form that identifies a person to whom the information relates; and it is not practicable to obtain the express or implied agreement of each person to whom the information relates before the information is recorded, used or disclosed; and for a disclosure—the chief executive is reasonably satisfied the person to whom the information is disclosed will not disclose the information to anyone else. Maximum penalty—50 penalty units. The chief executive may disclose the information to a law enforcement agency if the chief executive is reasonably satisfied the disclosure is necessary for the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of a criminal offence or a breach of a law imposing a penalty or sanction. In this section— disclose , information, includes give access to the information. employee , of a State school or relevant non-State school, includes— a person appointed to a position with the school; and a person engaged by the chief executive, the State school’s principal, or the relevant non-State school’s governing body, under a contract for services; and a volunteer who performs a task for the school at any place. law enforcement agency see the Information Privacy Act 2009 , schedule 5 , definition law enforcement agency , paragraph (a) . personal information means information or an opinion, whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion. recognised school see the E(QCAA) Act , schedule 1 . relevant non-State school means a non-State school, the governing body of which is not an organisation within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) , section 6C . s 426 amd 2009 No. 39 s 14 ; 2009 No. 40 s 14 ; 2012 No. 35 s 15 ; 2014 No. 3 s 114 sch 1 pt 2 ; 2014 No. 62 s 58 ; 2018 No. 1 s 150 sch 2 amd 2025 No. 24 s 36 (uncommenced amendment)