Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The AER must take all reasonable measures to protect from unauthorised use or disclosure information:
(a) given to it in confidence in, or in connection with, the performance of its functions or the exercise of its powers; or
(b) that is obtained by compulsion in the exercise of its powers.
Note: The Privacy Act 1988 also contains provisions relevant to the use and disclosure of information.
Authorised use and disclosure
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the disclosure of information to the extent required or permitted by a law of the Commonwealth, a State or Territory, is authorised use and disclosure of the information.
(3) Disclosing information to one of the following is authorised use and disclosure of the information:
(a) the Commission;
(b) the AEMC;
(c) Australian Energy Market Operator Limited (ACN 072 010 327);
(ca) the Clean Energy Regulator;
(cb) the Climate Change Authority;
(d) any staff or consultant assisting a body mentioned in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (ca) or (cb) in performing its functions or exercising its powers;
(e) any other person or body prescribed by the regulations for the purpose of this paragraph.
(3A) If the AER is satisfied that particular information will enable or assist an entity covered by subsection (3B) to perform or exercise any of the entity's functions or powers, disclosing the information to the entity is authorised use and disclosure of the information.
(3B) The entities are as follows:
(a) a Department;
(b) a body (whether incorporated or not) established or appointed for a public purpose by or under a law of the Commonwealth;
(c) a body established or appointed by the Governor - General, or by a Minister, otherwise than by or under a law of the Commonwealth;
(d) the holder of an office established for public purposes by or under a law of the Commonwealth.
(4) A person or body to whom information is disclosed under subsection (3) or (3A) may use the information for any purpose connected with the performance of the functions, or the exercise of the powers, of the person or body.
(5) The AER may impose conditions to be complied with in relation to information disclosed under subsection (3) or (3A).
(6) For the purposes of subsection (1), the use or disclosure of information by a person for the purposes of:
(a) performing the person's functions, or exercising the person's powers, as:
(i) an AER member, a person referred to in section 44AAC or a delegate of the AER; or
(ii) a person who is authorised to perform or exercise a function or power of, or on behalf of, the AER; or
(b) the performance of functions, or the exercise of powers, by the person by way of assisting a delegate of the AER;
is authorised use and disclosure of the information.
(7) Regulations made for the purposes of this section may specify uses of information and disclosures of information that are authorised uses and authorised disclosures for the purposes of this section.
(8) Nothing in any of the above subsections limits:
(a) anything else in any of those subsections; or
(b) what may otherwise constitute, for the purposes of subsection (1), authorised use or disclosure of information.
(9) Despite subsections (3) to (7), if:
(a) any of the following restricts or prohibits the use or disclosure of information:
(i) section 18D of the National Electricity Law set out in the Schedule to the National Electricity (South Australia) Act 1996 of South Australia as in force from time to time;
(ii) that section applied as a law of another State or Territory; and
(b) the use or disclosure of the information would, apart from this subsection, be authorised under this section;
the use or disclosure of the information is authorised for the purposes of this section only to the extent that the use or disclosure of the information is required or permitted in accordance with the relevant section mentioned in subparagraph (i) or (ii).