Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts45. Powers of Court in respect of reports
(1) The Court hearing an application under this Part may require a person to furnish to it a report on the child in relation to whom the application is made and that person shall comply with the requirement accordingly.
Penalty: If the offender is a natural person - 200 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months.
If the offender is a body corporate - 1 000 penalty units..
(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, for the purpose of giving effect to a requirement under sub-section (1), the person referred to in that subsection may -
(a) make such inquiries as he or she is required to make or as he or she thinks fit; and
(b) request the child to submit to being interviewed and medically examined by a medical practitioner or interviewed or examined by another specified person.
(3) Without limiting the generality of subsection (2), a requirement under subsection (1) to furnish a report may include an order that the child to whom it relates be interviewed and medically examined by a medical practitioner or interviewed or examined by another specified person and, when it so orders, the report shall contain details of the results of that interview or examination.
(4) Where a report required under subsection (1) to be furnished is furnished in good faith to the Court -
(a) the report shall not, in relation to information obtained as a result of an interview or examination conducted in pursuance of the order referred to in subsection (3), be held to constitute a breach of confidence or of professional etiquette or ethics or of a rule of professional conduct; and
(b) liability for defamation is not incurred by any person as a result of the furnishing of the report.
(5) Subsection (4) has effect both within and outside the Territory.