15Conflicts of interest

15 Conflicts of interest (1) An assessor must disclose any personal interest the assessor has in any matter in which the assessor is giving or was requested to give advice. (2) The disclosure must be made to the Director and the Minister and include: (a) the nature and extent of the personal interest; and (b) how the personal interest relates to the matter referred to in (3) If an assessor has a personal interest in a matter, the assessor must not give advice in relation to the matter without the written approval of the Minister. (4) For this section, an assessor has a personal interest in a matter if the assessor: (a) has a direct or indirect financial interest in the matter; or (b) has a personal, professional, commercial or other relationship with a person or entity and the nature of the relationship is likely to, or may reasonably be regarded as likely to, inhibit or prevent the assessor from exercising independent judgment about the matter. (5) Despite subsection (4), an assessor is not considered to have a personal interest if it is an interest shared with the public generally or a section of the public.