31Secrecy

31 Secrecy

(1) Subsection (2) applies to every person who is or has been the Supervising Scientist or a member of the staff assisting the Supervising Scientist. (2) Subject to subsection (3), a person to whom this subsection applies shall not, either directly or indirectly, make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person, any information concerning the affairs of any other person acquired by him or her by reason of his or her office or employment under or for the purposes of this Act.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months or 10 penalty units, or both.

(2A) Subsection (2) does not apply to acts done in the performance of a function or duty under or in connection with this Act.

Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2A). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(3) Subsection (2) does not prevent the communication of information or the production of a document by the Supervising Scientist or a member of the staff assisting the Supervising Scientist authorized by him or her for that purpose: (a) to the Minister, to the Secretary of the Department that deals with matters arising under this Act or to an officer of, or an employee in, that Department approved by the Secretary of that Department; or (b) to a person to whom, in the opinion of the Minister, it is in the public interest that the information be communicated or the document produced.

Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (3). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(4) Neither the Secretary of the Department that deals with matters arising under this Act nor an officer of, nor an employee in, that Department approved by him or her for the purposes of subsection (3) shall, either directly or indirectly, make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person, any information communicated to him or her by the Supervising Scientist or by a member of the staff assisting the Supervising Scientist, being information concerning the affairs of another person acquired by the Supervising Scientist or by a member of that staff by reason of his or her office or employment under or for the purposes of this Act.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months or 10 penalty units, or both.

(4A) Subsection (4) does not apply to acts done for the purpose of advising the Minister in connection with this Act.

Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (4A). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be taken to affect the operation of section 9 of the Ombudsman Act 1976 or the operation of any similar provision in a law of the Northern Territory that confers functions on a person similar to functions conferred on the Ombudsman by that Act. (6) A reference in this section to a member of the staff assisting the Supervising Scientist is a reference to a member of the staff referred to in subsection 26(1), a person engaged under subsection 26(4) (as in force immediately before the commencement of the Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Amendment Act 1993) or any other person to whom a delegation has been given under subsection 35(1).