LIQUOR CONTROL ACT 1988 - SECT 30
LIQUOR CONTROL ACT 1988 - SECT 30
30 . Confidential police information, use and protection of
(1) For the purposes
of this section, the Commissioner of Police may classify as confidential any
information or document held by the Commissioner of Police.
(2) Despite any other
provision of this Act, any information or document provided by the
Commissioner of Police to the licensing authority for the purposes of this Act
must not be published or disclosed by the licensing authority to any person
(except to the Minister, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative
Investigations appointed under section 5 of the
Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 , the Corruption and Crime Commission
established under the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act 2003 , the
Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission appointed under
the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act 2003 , a court or a person to whom
the Commissioner of Police authorises its disclosure) if the information or
document is classified as confidential police information.
(3) If —
(a) the
licensing authority —
(i)
refuses an application for a licence, for approval of the
transfer of a licence, or for approval of a person’s occupation of a
position of authority in a body corporate under section 33(5); or
(ii)
refuses approval of the appointment of a person as a
trustee under section 35A; or
(iii)
refuses to approve a person as an approved unrestricted
manager or approved restricted manager under section 102B(1), or revokes or
suspends such an approval; or
(iv)
takes disciplinary action against a person under Part 3
Division 13; or
(v)
makes or varies a prohibition order in respect of a
person under Part 5A;
and
(b) the
decision to do so is made solely or partly on the basis of confidential police
information provided to the licensing authority,
the licensing
authority is not required to give any reasons for the decision other than that
the decision is made in the public interest.
(4) If the
Commissioner of Police lodges an objection to an application under section 73
solely or partly on the basis of confidential police information —
(a) the
Director is not required to serve a copy of the notice under section 73(4A);
and
(b) the
licensing authority must, at least 7 days before the hearing of the
application, give the applicant written notice that the Commissioner of Police
has objected to the application on the ground that the grant of the
application would not be in the public interest.
(5) If the Director or
the Commissioner of Police lodges a complaint under section 95 in respect of a
person solely or partly on the basis of confidential police information, the
complaint need only state that it would not be in the public interest if the
person were to be or continue to be licensed or approved, as the case may be.
(6) In any proceedings
under this Act (other than proceedings for an offence), the Director, the
Commission or a court —
(a)
must, on the application of the Commissioner of Police, take all reasonable
steps to maintain the confidentiality of confidential police information,
including steps —
(i)
to receive evidence and hear argument about confidential
police information in private and in the absence of any party to the
proceedings other than the Director or the Commissioner of Police or their
representatives; and
(ii)
to prohibit the publication of evidence about
confidential police information;
and
(b) may
take evidence consisting of or relating to confidential police information by
way of an affidavit of a police officer of or above the rank of
Superintendent.
(7) The Commissioner
of Police must not delegate the function of classifying information or
documents as confidential police information except to a Deputy Commissioner
of Police or an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
[Section 30 inserted: No. 73 of 2006 s. 27;
amended: No. 56 of 2010 s. 5; No. 35 of 2014 s. 39; No. 9 of 2018 s. 14; No.
25 of 2023 s. 21(1).]