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Human Rights Commission Act 2005
99Secrecy
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99 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.
divulge includes communicate.
person to whom this section applies means a person who—
(a) is or has been—
(i) a commissioner; or
(ii) a person present at conciliation; or
(iii) a member of the staff of the commission; or
(b) exercises, or has exercised, a function under this Act.
produce includes allow access to.
protected information means information about a person that is
disclosed to, or obtained by, a person to whom this section applies
because of the exercise of a function under this Act by the person or
someone else.
(2) A person to whom this section applies commits an offence if—
(a) the person—
(i) makes a record of protected information about someone
else; and
(ii) is reckless about whether the information is protected
information about someone else; or
(b) the person—
(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 if the record is made, or the information
is divulged—
(a) under this Act or another territory law; or
(b) in relation to the exercise of a function, as a person to whom this
section applies, under this Act or another territory law.
(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to the divulging of protected
information about someone with the person’s consent.
(5) A person to whom this section applies 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 territory law.
(6) A person to whom this section applies does not commit an offence
under subsection (2) only because the person discloses information in
relation to a discrimination complaint if—
(a) the person discloses the information in exercising a function
under this Act in relation to education or research; and
(b) all relevant parties consent to the information being disclosed.