Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts(1) A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act—
(a) would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to—
(i) the security of the Commonwealth, the Territory or any State; or
(ii) the defence of the Commonwealth, the Territory or any State; or
(iii) the international relations of the Commonwealth; or
(b) would divulge any information or matter communicated in confidence by or for a foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an international organization to the government of the Commonwealth or Territory, to an authority of the Commonwealth or Territory or to a person receiving the communication of the Commonwealth or Territory or of an authority of the Territory.
(2) If a Minister is satisfied that a document is an exempt document under subsection (1), the Minister may sign a certificate to that effect stating the reason and, subject to part 7, the certificate, while in force, establishes conclusively that the document is an exempt document.
(3) If a Minister is satisfied as mentioned in subsection (2) only because of matter contained in a particular part of a document, a certificate under that subsection in relation to the document must identify that part of the document that contains the matter.
(4) If a Minister is satisfied that information about the existence or non-existence of a document described in a request would, if contained in a document of an agency, cause the document to be an exempt document under subsection (1), the Minister may sign a certificate to that effect, stating that reason.
Note 1 A Minister may delegate the Minister's functions under an Act or statutory instrument to anyone else (see Legislation Act, s 254A).
Note 2 For the making of delegations and the exercise of delegated functions, see the Legislation Act, pt 19.4.
(5) In this section:
"security of the Commonwealth, the Territory or any State" includes—
(a) matters relating to the detection, prevention or suppression of activities, whether within or outside Australia, subversive of, or hostile to the interests of the Commonwealth, the Territory or any State or of any country allied or associated with the Commonwealth; and
(b) the security of any communications system or cryptographic system of the Commonwealth, the Territory, any State or of another country used for—
(i) the defence of the Commonwealth, the Territory or any State or of any country allied or associated with the Commonwealth; or
(ii) the conduct of the international relations of the Commonwealth.