New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WITNESS PROTECTION ACT 1995 - SECT 24

24 Non-disclosure of former identity of participant

(1) If:

(a) a participant who has been provided with a new identity under the witness protection program would, apart from this section, be required by or under a law of New South Wales to disclose his or her former identity for a particular purpose, and

(b) the Commissioner of Police has given the participant permission, in the form prescribed by the regulations, not to disclose his or her former identity for that purpose,

the participant is not required to disclose his or her former identity to any person for that purpose.

(2) If a participant has been given permission under subsection (1) not to disclose his or her former identity for a particular purpose, it is lawful for the participant, in any proceedings or for any purpose, under or in relation to the relevant law of New South Wales to claim that his or her new identity is his or her only identity.

(3) It is the duty of each person who is or has been associated with the administration of the witness protection program and who has obtained access to information or a document relevant to the witness protection program not to disclose that information or publish that document except as authorised by the Commissioner of Police.

(4) If, under a complementary witness protection law of the Commonwealth, another State or a Territory, it is lawful for a participant not to disclose his or her former identity for a purpose approved by the Commissioner of Police, the participant is not required to disclose his or her former identity to another person for that purpose.

(5) In addition to prescribing a form for the purposes of a permission under subsection (1), the regulations may prescribe a form for the purposes of a similar permission of the Commissioner of Police under a complementary witness protection law of the Commonwealth, another State or a Territory.

(6) In this section:
"participant" includes a person who:

(a) was provided with a new identity under the witness protection program, and

(b) is no longer a participant but retains that identity.