Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) This section applies to:
(a) every person who is or has been a Commissioner, an officer or other person employed in the service of the Commission, a member of a Legal Aid Committee, a member of a Review Committee; and
(b) any person who has performed any function in relation to this Act under the Financial Management Act or the Audit Act .
(2) A person to whom this section applies shall not, either directly or indirectly, except for the purpose of this Act:
(a) make a record of, or divulge or communicate to a person, any information concerning the affairs of another person acquired by him or her by reason of his or her office or employment under or for the purposes of this Act or in the performance of a function under this Act; or
(b) produce to a person a document relating to the affairs of another person furnished for the purposes of this Act.
Maximum penalty: 17 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months.
(3) Subject to sections 18 to 21 inclusive of the Audit Act , a person to whom this section applies shall not be required to produce before a court a document relating to the affairs of another person of which he or she has the custody or to which he or she has access, by virtue of his or her office or employment under or for the purposes of this Act or in the performance of a function under this Act, or to divulge or to communicate to a court any information concerning the affairs of another person obtained by him or her by reason of such an office or employment or in the performance of such a function.
(3A) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to:
(a) an investigation undertaken in respect of the commission of an offence against this Act or proceedings for an offence against this Act;
(b) a proceeding under Chapter 4 of the Legal Profession Act , including a proceeding initiated by the Commission in respect of the professional conduct of a private legal practitioner whose services have been made available under this Act to legally assisted persons; or
(c) proceedings brought by the Commission under section 29 or 32 to recover money payable to the Commission.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply if the court considers that it is necessary in the interests of justice that the document be produced or the information be divulged or communicated.
(5) This section does not affect any law or rule of practice or procedure relating to the discovery of documents in a proceeding in respect of which legal assistance is provided to a person under this Act.
(6) In this section, "court" includes a tribunal.