Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) A person who obtains information in the course of performing functions or exercising powers under this Act or the Transitional Act must not:
(a) make a record of the information; or
(b) use the information; or
(c) disclose the information.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 1 year.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if:
(a) the information is recorded, used or disclosed for the purposes of performing functions or exercising powers under this Act or the Transitional Act; or
(b) the information is recorded, used or disclosed in accordance with a provision of this Act or the Transitional Act; or
(c) the information is recorded, used or disclosed with the consent of the entity that provided the information; or
(d) the information is given to a court or tribunal.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2): see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(3) A person commits an offence if:
(a) information is made available to a government body or to an intelligence or security agency under section 62; and
(b) a person obtains the information in the course of performing functions or exercising powers for the body or agency; and
(c) the person would not have had access to the information if it had not been made available to the body or agency under section 62; and
(d) the person records, uses or discloses the information for a purpose other than that for which it was made available; and
(e) the person is reckless as to whether the purpose for which the information is recorded, used or disclosed is that for which it was made available.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months.
Note: Where a fault element for a physical element of an offence is not stated, see section 5.6 of the Criminal Code for the appropriate fault element.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply if:
(a) the person discloses the information to another person; and
(b) the disclosure is reasonably necessary for:
(i) the enforcement of the criminal law; or
(ii) the enforcement of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty; or
(iii) the protection of the public revenue.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (4): see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(5) Subsections (1) and (3) are not intended to have an operation that would infringe an implied constitutional immunity of a referring/adopting State.