CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ACT 2004 - SECT 238

CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ACT 2004 - SECT 238

238 .         Production of departmental records in legal proceedings

        (1)         In this section —

        departmental record means a document in the records of the Department that relates to a child, a child’s parent or a child’s carer.

        (2)         This section applies if a party to any legal proceedings lawfully requires —

            (a)         the CEO or another officer to produce to the party, or the court or tribunal concerned, a departmental record; or

            (b)         an officer or employee of a public authority to produce to the party, or the court or tribunal concerned, a departmental record to which that public authority has been given access.

        (3)         The party requiring production of the departmental record must describe the record —

            (a)         by reference to the person or people to whom it relates; and

            (b)         by reference to the period to which it relates; and

            (c)         by general reference to the circumstances to which it relates.

        (4)         The party requiring production of the departmental record must show that the circumstances to which the departmental record relates are relevant to the proceedings.

        (5)         A person must not, directly or indirectly, record, disclose or make use of information in a departmental record produced in response to a requirement referred to in subsection (2) other than for a purpose connected with the proceedings.

        Penalty for this subsection: a fine of $12 000.

        (6)         If a departmental record is produced to a court or tribunal in response to a requirement referred to in subsection (2), the court or tribunal must take reasonable steps to ensure that access to the record is limited to one or more of the following people —

            (a)         a party to the proceedings;

            (b)         a legal representative of a party to the proceedings;

            (c)         an expert witness in the proceedings;

            (d)         if the proceedings are in the Family Court —

                  (i)         a family consultant, as defined in the Family Court Act 1997 ; or

                  (ii)         any other person required or directed to prepare a report on matters relevant to the proceedings, under that Act or the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth;

            (e)         a person who can show that the CEO has authorised his or her access to the record;

            (f)         a person considered by the court or tribunal to have a direct interest in the proceedings.

        (7)         A person referred to in subsection (6) who has been given access to a departmental record by a court or tribunal must not, without the approval of the court or tribunal, make a copy of, or otherwise reproduce, the record.

        Penalty for this subsection: a fine of $6 000.

        (8)         For the purposes of subsection (7), the court or tribunal may give approval on such conditions, including conditions about the return or destruction of copies or reproductions made, as the court or tribunal thinks fit.

        (9)         This section does not apply to the production of a report under section 124B(1) in proceedings other than for the prosecution of an offence mentioned in section 124F(2)(d) but if a court or tribunal grants leave for the purposes of section 124G(2)(b) in relation to a report, subsections (5) to (8) apply as if the report had been produced in response to a requirement mentioned in subsection (2).

        [Section 238 amended: No. 35 of 2006 s. 203; No. 26 of 2008 s. 8; No. 49 of 2010 s. 85; No. 18 of 2021 s. 76.]