Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this section:
"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
"give" includes permit access to.
"officer" means a person who is or has been:
(a) the Registrar;
(b) a member of the staff assisting the Registrar; or
(c) a person to whom powers under this Part have been delegated by the Minister or the Registrar.
"produce" includes permit access to.
(2) This section applies in relation to information if the information relates to a person and was obtained by an officer, either directly or indirectly, from a part of a document filed with the Registrar, being a part that is not open to public inspection.
(3) This section applies in relation to a part of a document filed with the Registrar, being a part that is not open to public inspection.
(4) An officer shall not:
(a) make a record of any information to which this section applies;
(b) divulge or communicate to a person any information to which this section applies; or
(c) give a person a part of a document to which this section applies;
unless the record is made, the information divulged or communicated or the part of the document given:
(d) for the purposes of this Act; or
(e) in relation to the performance of a duty or the exercise of a power under or in relation to this Act.
Penalty: $5,000 or imprisonment for 2 years, or both.
(5) Subsection (4) applies in relation to the divulging or communicating of information whether directly or indirectly, but does not apply in relation to the divulging or communicating of information to, or the giving of a part of a document to, the Minister.
(6) An officer shall not be required:
(a) to produce in a court a part of a document to which this section applies; or
(b) to divulge or communicate to a court any information to which this section applies;
except so far as it is necessary to do so for the purposes of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.