New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS (CARE AND PROTECTION) ACT 1998 - SECT 29

29 Protection of persons who make reports or provide certain information

(1) If, in relation to a child or young person or a class of children or young persons, a person makes a report in good faith to the Director-General or to a person who has the power or responsibility to protect the child or young person or the class of children or young persons:

(a) the making of the report does not constitute a breach of professional etiquette or ethics or a departure from accepted standards of professional conduct, and

(b) no liability for defamation is incurred because of the report, and

(c) the making of the report does not constitute a ground for civil proceedings for malicious prosecution or for conspiracy, and

(d) the report, or evidence of its contents, is not admissible in any proceedings (other than care proceedings in the Children’s Court, or any appeal arising from those care proceedings), and

(e) a person cannot be compelled in any proceedings to produce the report or a copy of or extract from it or to disclose or give evidence of any of its contents, and

(f) the identity of the person who made the report, or information from which the identity of that person could be deduced, must not be disclosed by any person or body, except with:

(i) the consent of the person who made the report, or

(ii) the leave of a court or other body before which proceedings relating to the report are conducted,

and, unless that consent or leave is granted, a party or witness in any such proceedings must not be asked, and, if asked, cannot be required to answer, any question that cannot be answered without disclosing the identity or leading to the identification of that person.

(1A) A certificate purporting to be signed by the Director-General that a document relating to a child or young person or a class of children or young persons is a report to which this section applies is admissible in any proceedings and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof that the document is such a report.

(2) A court or other body cannot grant leave under subsection (1) (f) (ii) unless the court or other body is satisfied that the evidence is of critical importance in the proceedings and that failure to admit it would prejudice the proper administration of justice.

(3) A court or other body that grants leave under subsection (1) (f) (ii):

(a) must state the reasons why leave is granted, and

(b) must ensure that the holder of the report is informed that evidence as to the identity of the person who made the report, or from which the identity of that person could be deduced, has been disclosed.

(3A) The protections given by this section to a person who makes a report apply to:

(a) any person who provided information on the basis of which the report was made, in good faith, to the person, and

(b) any person who otherwise was in good faith concerned in making such a report or causing such a report to be made,

in the same way as they apply in respect of the person who actually made the report.

(4) Subsection (1) (f) does not prevent the disclosure of information from which the identity of a person may be deduced if the prohibition on the disclosure of that information would prevent the proper investigation of the report.

(5) A report to which this section applies is taken to be an exempt document for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1989 .

(6) In this section:
"court" includes a court exercising federal jurisdiction.
"report" includes a report under sections 24, 25, 27, 120, 121 and 122.