PRIVACY ACT 1988 No. 119, 1988 - SECT 96 Non-disclosure of private information

PRIVACY ACT 1988 No. 119, 1988 - SECT 96

96. (1) A person who is, or has at any time been, the Commissioner or a member
of the staff referred to in section 43 of the Human Rights and Equal 
Opportunity Commission Act 1986 or is acting, or has at any time acted, on
behalf of the Commissioner shall not, either directly or indirectly, except in
the performance of a duty under or in connection with this Act or in the
course of acting on behalf of the Commissioner:

   (a)  make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person, any
        information relating to the affairs of another person acquired by the
        first-mentioned person because of that person's office or employment
        under or for the purposes of this Act or because of that person
        acting, or having acted, on behalf of the Commissioner;

   (b)  make use of any such information; or

   (c)  produce to any person a document relating to the affairs of another
        person furnished for the purposes of this Act.
Penalty: $5,000 or imprisonment for 1 year, or both.

(2) A person who is, or has at any time been, the Commissioner, or a member of
the staff referred to in section 43 of the Human Rights and Equal  Opportunity
Commission Act 1986 or is acting, or has at any time acted, on behalf of the
Commissioner shall not be required:

   (a)  to divulge or communicate to a court any information relating to the
        affairs of another person acquired by the first-mentioned person
        because of that person's office or employment under or for the
        purposes of this Act or because of that person acting, or having
        acted, on behalf of the Commissioner; or

   (b)  to produce in a court a document relating to the affairs of another
        person of which the first-mentioned person has custody, or to which
        that person has access, because of that person's office or employment
        under or for the purposes of this Act or because of that person
        acting, or having acted, on behalf of the Commissioner; except where
        it is necessary to do so for the purposes of this Act.

(3) Nothing in this section prohibits a person from:

   (a)  making a record of information that is, or is included in a class of
        information that is, required or permitted by an Act to be recorded,
        if the record is made for the purposes of or pursuant to that Act; or

   (b)  divulging or communicating information, or producing a document, that
        is, or is included in a class of information that is or class of
        documents that are, required or permitted by an Act to be divulged,
        communicated or produced, as the case may be, if the information is
        divulged or communicated, or the document is produced, for the
        purposes of or under that Act.

(4) Nothing in subsection (2) prevents a person being required, for the
purposes of or under an Act, to divulge or communicate information, or to
produce a document, that is, or is included in a class of information that is,
or class of documents that are, required or permitted by that Act to be
divulged, communicated or produced.

(5) In this section:

"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the
production of documents or the answering of questions;

"produce" includes permit access to.