New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1991 - SECT 35

35 Restrictions on publication

(1) The court in which proceedings under this Division have been instituted or are being heard may make orders having the effect of prohibiting or restricting the publication of matters relating to the proceedings or to a person in respect of whom the proceedings have been instituted.

(2) The orders that a court may make under this section include orders prohibiting or restricting publication of any one or more of the following:

(a) any report that relates to the proceedings,

(b) the identity of the person in respect of whom the proceedings have been instituted,

(c) any information from which the identity of that person could be deduced,

(d) any information from which could be deduced the identity of a person in respect of whom a public health order is, or at any time was, sought or made, whether or not in the proceedings.

(3) An order under this section may be made by the court of its own motion or on the application of a party to the proceedings.

(4) If an application under this section is made by a party to the proceedings, the onus is on the other party to show cause why the application should be refused.

(5) An order made under this section does not operate to prevent publication of a report of the proceedings if:

(a) the report is published in a genuine volume of law reports, a legal journal or any other publication intended to be read mainly by Australian lawyers, Magistrates and Judges, and

(b) the person in respect of whom the proceedings were instituted, or in respect of whom a public health order is sought or made, is not identified in the report.

(6) A person who contravenes an order in force under this section (whether aware of the order or not) is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty:

(a) in the case of a corporation-100 penalty units, or

(b) in any other case-50 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(7) This section does not prevent punishment, as a contempt, of a contravention of an order made in proceedings before a court but, in respect of such a contravention, a person may not be dealt with both for a contempt of the court and by prosecution for an offence.

(8) In this section:
"publish" means:

(a) publish in a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication, or

(b) publish by radio or television transmission, or

(c) include in a cinematographic film or videotape that is, or is to be, available to the public, or

(d) include in a book or sound recording that is, or is to be, available to the public, or

(e) make known to the public in any other manner or by any other means.