80Secrecy

80 Secrecy

80 Secrecy

(1) A person who—

(a) acquires information in the exercise of a function under this Act, and

(b) directly or indirectly, makes a record of the information or divulges it to another person,

is guilty of an offence unless the information is recorded or divulged in the exercise of functions under this Act.

Maximum penalty—50 penalty units.

(2) Despite subsection (1), information may be divulged—

(a) to a particular person or persons, if the Minister certifies that it is necessary in the public interest that the information be divulged to the person or persons, or

(b) to a person who is expressly or impliedly authorised to obtain it by the person to whom the information relates, or

(c) to a person or authority prescribed by the regulations.

(3) It is not an offence under this section if, in legal proceedings, a person—

(a) divulges information in answer to a question that the person is compellable to answer, or

(b) produces a document or other thing that the person is compellable to produce.

(4) An authority or person to whom information is divulged under this section, and a person or employee under the control of that authority or person, are, in respect of that information, subject to the same rights, privileges and duties under this section as they would be if that authority, person or employee were a person exercising functions under this Act and had acquired the information in the exercise of those functions.

(5) This section does not apply to the divulging of information to any of the following—

(a) the Independent Commission Against Corruption,

(b) the Australian Crime Commission,

(c) the New South Wales Crime Commission,

(d) the Ombudsman,

(e) any other person or body prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.

(6) This section does not prevent a person being given access to a document in accordance with the unless the document—