OMBUDSMAN ACT 1974 - SECT 35
Ombudsman, officer or expert as witness
OMBUDSMAN ACT 1974 - SECT 35
Ombudsman, officer or expert as witness
35 Ombudsman, officer or expert as witness
(1) The Ombudsman shall not, nor shall an officer of the Ombudsman who is not
a member of the Police Force, be competent or compellable to give evidence or
produce any document in any legal proceedings in respect of any information
obtained by the Ombudsman or officer in the course of the Ombudsman's or
officer's office.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following--
(d) proceedings under Part 5 of the
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 arising as a consequence of a
decision made by the Ombudsman in respect of an access application under that
Act,
(g) criminal proceedings resulting from an investigation under this Act,
but only if the investigation related (whether or not entirely) to a matter
referred by the Inspector of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission to the
Ombudsman for investigation.
(3) Subsection (1) applies to the following
persons in the same way as it applies to the Ombudsman and officers of the
Ombudsman--
(a) a former Ombudsman,
(b) a former officer of the Ombudsman,
(c) an Australian legal practitioner who is or was appointed under section 19
(4) to assist the Ombudsman,
(5) The Committee on the
Ombudsman, the Police Integrity Commission and the Crime Commission is to
review the operation of subsections (3) and (4) as soon as possible after 5
March 2016.