(1) Where, in the opinion of the Committee, any evidence proposed to be given
before, or the whole or a part of a document produced or proposed to be
produced in evidence to, the Committee relates to a secret or confidential
matter, the Committee may, and at the request of the witness giving the
evidence or producing the document shall:
(a) take the evidence in private, or
(b) direct that the document, or the part of the document, be treated as
confidential.
(2) Where a direction under subsection (1) applies to a
document or part of a document produced in evidence to the Committee, the
contents of the document or part shall, for the purposes of this section, be
deemed to be evidence given by the person producing the document and taken by
the Committee in private.
(3) Where, at the request of a witness, evidence is
taken by the Committee in private:
(a) the Committee shall not, without the
consent in writing of the witness, and
(b) a person (including a member of
the Committee) shall not, without the consent in writing of the witness and
the authority of the Committee under subsection (5),
disclose or publish the
whole or a part of that evidence.
Penalty: 20 penalty units or imprisonment
for 3 months.
(4) Where evidence is taken by the Committee in private
otherwise than at the request of a witness, a person (including a member of
the Committee) shall not, without the authority of the Committee under
subsection (5), disclose or publish the whole or a part of that evidence.
Penalty: 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months.
(5) The Committee
may, in its discretion, disclose or publish or, by writing under the hand of
the Chair, authorise the disclosure or publication of evidence taken in
private by the Committee, but this subsection does not operate so as to affect
the necessity for the consent of a witness under subsection (3).
(6) Nothing
in this section prohibits:
(a) the disclosure or publication of evidence that
has already been lawfully published, or
(b) the disclosure or publication by
a person of a matter of which the person has become aware other than by
reason, directly or indirectly, of the giving of evidence before the
Committee.
Note : The Defamation
Act 2005 makes provision for 2 defences in respect of the publication of
defamatory matter that is contained in evidence taken by, or documents
produced to, the Committee in private, but only if the evidence or documents
have been disclosed or published in accordance with this section.
Section 28 of the Defamation Act 2005 (when read with clause 8 of Schedule 2
to that Act) ensures that such documents attract the defence relating to
public documents in defamation proceedings.
Section 29 of the Defamation Act 2005 (when read with clause 17 of Schedule 3
to that Act) ensures that proceedings in which such evidence is taken or
documents produced attract the defences relating to fair reports of
proceedings of public concern in defamation proceedings.
