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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AMENDMENT ACT 1991 No. 137 of 1991 - SECT 29 Documents affecting personal privacy

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AMENDMENT ACT 1991 No. 137 of 1991 - SECT 29

Documents affecting personal privacy
29. (1) Section 41 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting from subsection (1) "information relating to the personal
affairs of" and substituting " personal information about";

   (b)  by omitting subsection (3) and substituting the following subsections:

"(3) Where:

   (a)  a request is made to an agency or Minister for access to a document of
        the agency, or an official document of the Minister, that contains
        information concerning the applicant, being information that was
        provided by a qualified person acting in his or her capacity as a
        qualified person; and

   (b)  it appears to the principal officer of the agency or to the Minister
        (as the case may be) that the disclosure of the information to the
        applicant might be detrimental to the applicant's physical or mental
        health, or well-being; the principal officer or Minister may, if
        access to the document would otherwise be given to the applicant,
        direct that access to the document, so far as it contains that
        information, is not to be given to the applicant but is to be given
        instead to a qualified person who:

   (c)  carries on the same occupation, of a kind mentioned in the definition
of "qualified person" in subsection (8), as the first-mentioned qualified
person; and

   (d)  is to be nominated by the applicant.

"(4) Subject to subsection (5), where:

   (a)  access to a document has been given to a person; and

   (b)  the document contains personal information of a medical or psychiatric
        nature, about the person that has been provided by, or has originated
        from, a qualified person acting in his or her capacity as a qualified
        person; and

   (c)  access was not given with the qualified person's knowledge; the
        principal officer or Minister (as the case may be) must notify the
        qualified person that access to the document has been so given.

"(5) Subsection (4) does not apply if it is not reasonably practicable to
notify the qualified person.

"(6) Without limiting the matters that may be considered in deciding whether
it is not reasonably practicable to notify the qualified person, consideration
is to be given to:

   (a)  the length of time since the information was provided by, or
        originated from, the qualified person; and

   (b)  the likelihood that the qualified person is still carrying on the same
        occupation; and

   (c)  the frequency with which, but for subsection (5), the principal
        officer or Minister would be required to make notifications under
        subsection (4); and

   (d)  the resources available to make such notifications.

"(7) The powers and functions of the principal officer of an agency under this
section may be exercised by an officer of the agency acting within his or her
scope of authority in accordance with arrangements referred to in section  23.


"(8) In this section:
`qualified person' means a person who carries on, and is entitled to carry on,
an occupation that involves the provision of care for the physical or mental
health of people or for their well-being, and, without limiting the generality
of the foregoing, includes any of the following:

   (a)  a medical practitioner;

   (b)  a psychiatrist;

   (c)  a psychologist;

   (d)  a marriage guidance counsellor;

   (e)  a social worker.".

(2) The amendments made by this section apply to any documents in respect of
which a request for access was or is made under this Act before or after the
commencement of this section, other than a request that was finally disposed
of before the commencement of this section.