Commonwealth Numbered Acts

COMPLAINTS (AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE) ACT 1981 No. 21 of 1981 - SECT 41

41. (1) In this section, "officer" means -

   (a)  the Ombudsman;

   (b)  a Deputy Ombudsman;

   (c)  a person who is a member of the staff appointed or employed for the
        purposes of the Ombudsman Act 1976 under the Public Service Act 1922;

   (d)  a person, not being a person referred to in paragraph (b) or (c), to
        whom the Ombudsman has, under section 40, delegated any of his powers
        or who is an authorized person; or

   (e)  a person who is made available to the Ombudsman as mentioned in
        paragraph 25 (3) (a) or (b).

(2) Subject to this section, an officer shall not, either directly or
indirectly, and either while he is, or after he ceases to be, an officer, make
a record of, or divulge or communicate, any information acquired by him by
reason of his being an officer, being information that was disclosed or
obtained under the provisions of this Act.

Penalty: $1,000.

(3) Sub-section (2) does not prevent an officer -

   (a)  from making a record of, or divulging or communicating information
        acquired by him in the performance of his duties as an officer for
        purposes connected with the performance of the functions of the
        Ombudsman under this Act;

   (b)  from divulging or communicating information -

        (i)    if the information was furnished by a member in the performance
               of his duties as such a member - with the consent of the
               Commissioner or of the responsible Minister; or

        (ii)   if the information was furnished by a person otherwise than as
               set out in sub-paragraph (i) - with the consent of the person
               who furnished the information; or

   (c)  from divulging or communicating information in any proceedings before
        a court.

(4) Subject to sub-section (5), sub-section (2) does not prevent the Ombudsman
or a Deputy Ombudsman from disclosing, in a report made under this Act, such
matters as, in his opinion, ought to be disclosed in the course of setting out
the grounds for the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report.

(5) Where the Attorney-General furnishes to the Ombudsman a certificate in
writing certifying that -

   (a)  the disclosure of information or documents concerning a specified
        matter or matters included in a specified class of matters; or

   (b)  the disclosure of a specified document or of documents included in a
        specified class of documents, would, for a reason specified in the
        certificate, being a reason referred to in paragraph 27 (4) (a), (b)
        or (c), be contrary to the public interest, an officer shall not,
        either directly or indirectly and either while he is, or after he
        ceases to be, an officer, except as provided in sub-section (6) of
        this section -

   (c)  divulge or communicate any information acquired by him under the
        provisions of this Act concerning such a matter or such a document;

   (d)  divulge or communicate any of the contents of such a document; or

   (e)  furnish such a document, or a copy of, or an extract from, such a
        document.

Penalty: $5,000 or imprisonment for 2 years.

(6) Sub-section (5) does not prevent an officer, in the performance of his
duties as an officer -

   (a)  from divulging or communicating information referred to in that
        sub-section to another officer;

   (b)  from furnishing any of the contents of a document referred to in that
        sub-section, or a copy of or an extract from such a document, to
        another officer; or

   (c)  from returning such a document that has been produced to him to the
        person lawfully entitled to the custody of the document.

(7) Sub-section (2) does not prevent the Ombudsman -

   (a)  from furnishing information (not being information referred to in
        sub-section (5)) that relates to -

        (i)    a matter arising under a law of a State or of the Northern
               Territory; or

        (ii)   an undertaking that is being carried out jointly by the
               Commonwealth and a State or the Commonwealth and the Northern
               Territory, to a person exercising, under a law of a State or of
               the Northern Territory, functions similar to the functions of
               the Ombudsman; or

   (b)  from forwarding a document, or a copy of, or extract from, a document,
        that relates to such a matter or undertaking (not being a document
        referred to in sub-section (5)) to such a person.