Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) At any time before or during the hearing of proceedings before a court in relation to an offence against this Act, the Judge or Magistrate may, if satisfied that such a course is expedient in order to prevent the disclosure of information of a kind referred to in the definition of associated technology in subsection 4(1) or of information of a kind whose disclosure could prejudice the physical security of nuclear material or an associated item:
(a) order that some or all of the members of the public shall be excluded during the whole or a part of the proceedings;
(b) order that no report of the whole or a specified part of the proceedings shall be published; or
(c) make orders, and give directions, prohibiting or restricting access, either before, during or after the proceedings, to any affidavit, exhibit, information or other document used in the proceedings that is on the file in the court or in the records of the court.
(2) A person who contravenes an order made, or direction given, under subsection (1) commits an offence against that subsection punishable, upon conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 5 years.
(3) Upon the termination of proceedings before a court in relation to an offence against this Act, any document containing information of a kind described in subsection (1) that would otherwise form part of the records of the court shall, as soon as practicable after the termination of those proceedings, be delivered into the possession and control of the Director.
(4) In this section a reference to proceedings before a court shall be read as including a reference to committal proceedings in relation to an indictable offence.
(5) For the purposes of this section, proceedings shall not be taken to have terminated until:
(a) in the case of proceedings other than committal proceedings in relation to an indictable offence--the time for bringing an appeal arising from those proceedings has expired or an appeal arising from those proceedings has been brought and has been determined; or
(b) in the case of committal proceedings in relation to an indictable offence--the trial in relation to the offence has been determined and the time for bringing an appeal arising from those proceedings has expired or an appeal arising from those proceedings has been brought and has been determined.