New South Wales Consolidated Acts

OMBUDSMAN ACT 1974 - SECT 21B

21B Requirements and inspections relating to matters affected by legal professional privilege on review under Freedom of Information Act 1989

(1) Despite sections 21 and 21A, the Ombudsman may make, and is not required to set aside, a requirement referred to in section 21, or may exercise powers under section 20, concerning information or a document that might be subject to a privilege of a public authority based on legal professional privilege if:

(a) the requirement is made or the powers are exercised for the purposes of an investigation of the conduct of a person or body in relation to a determination made by an agency under the Freedom of Information Act 1989 , and

(b) the investigation concerns a document claimed to be an exempt document under that Act on the grounds of legal professional privilege.

(2) A person of whom any such requirement is made must comply with the requirement.

(3) Despite section 34, the Ombudsman must not release a document referred to in subsection (1) or disclose the contents of any such document.

(4) Nothing in this section affects the question of whether a document is, or might be, subject to legal professional privilege.