(1) A person who acquires information in the exercise of functions under the gaming and liquor legislation must not, directly or indirectly—
(a) make a record of the information, or
(b) divulge the information to another person,
except in the exercise of functions under the gaming and liquor legislation.
Maximum penalty—50 penalty units.
(2) Despite subsection (1), information may be divulged—
(a1) to the community at large if the Authority, NICC or Secretary certifies it is in the public interest the information be divulged to the community at large; or
(a) to a particular person or body (or to a particular class of persons or bodies) if the Authority, NICC or the Secretary certifies that it is necessary in the public interest that the information be divulged to the person or body or class of persons or bodies, or
(b) to a person or body prescribed by the regulations, or
(c) to a person who is expressly or impliedly authorised to obtain it by the person to whom the information relates, or
(d) to the Minister, or to a person who is engaged in the administration of the gaming and liquor legislation and is authorised in writing by the Minister to receive information under this section.
(3) Information to which section 143C of the Casino Control Act 1992 applies may not be divulged under subsection (2) except with the consent of the Commissioner of Police.
(4) A person cannot be required—
(a) to produce in any court any document or other thing that has come into the person’s possession, custody or control by reason of, or in the course of, the exercise of the person’s functions under the gaming and liquor legislation, or
(b) to divulge to any court any information that has come to the person’s notice in the exercise of the person’s functions under that legislation.
(5) Despite subsection (4), a person may be required to produce a document or other thing in a court or to divulge information to a court if—
(a) the Authority or NICC certifies that it is necessary in the public interest to do so, or
(b) a person to whom the information relates (or to whom the information contained in the document or thing relates) has expressly authorised it to be divulged to or produced in the court.
(6) A person or body to whom or which information is divulged under subsection (2), and a person or employee under the control of that person or body, are, in respect of that information, subject to the same rights, privileges and duties under this section as they would be if that person, body or employee were a person exercising functions under the gaming and liquor legislation and had acquired the information in the exercise of those functions.
(7) This section does not apply to the divulging of information to, or the production of any document or other thing to, any of the following—
(a) the New South Wales Crime Commission,
(b) the Independent Commission Against Corruption,
(b1) the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission,
(c) the Australian Crime Commission,
(d) the NSW Police Force or the police force of another State or a Territory,
(e) the Australian Federal Police,
(f) any other person or body prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.
(a) contains matter the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to do any of the following—
(i) prejudice the investigation of any contravention or possible contravention of the law (including any revenue law) whether generally or in a particular case,
(ii) enable the existence or identity of any confidential source of information, in relation to the enforcement or administration of the law, to be ascertained,
(iii) prejudice the effectiveness of any lawful method or procedure for preventing, detecting, investigating or dealing with any contravention or possible contravention of the law (including any revenue law), or
(b) is a document the disclosure of which would disclose any of the following information—
(i) information concerning the business, commercial, professional or financial affairs of an applicant for a casino licence under the Casino Control Act 1992 or a licence under Part 4 of that Act,
(ii) information obtained in the course of an investigation of an application for such a licence,
(iii) information concerning the system of internal controls and administrative and accounting procedures for a casino.
(9) In this section—
court includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
produce includes permit access to.
s 17: Am 2009 No 54, Sch 2.7; 2011 No 72, Sch 4 [11]; 2014 No 76, Sch 2 [3]; 2016 No 61, Sch 6.19; 2022 No 36, Sch 3.1[16]–[18].