Queensland Consolidated Acts

INVASION OF PRIVACY ACT 1971 - SECT 45

45 Prohibition on communication or publication of private conversations by parties thereto

(1) A person who, having been a party to a private conversation and having used a listening device to overhear, record, monitor or listen to that conversation, subsequently communicates or publishes to any other person any record of the conversation made, directly or indirectly, by the use of the listening device or any statement prepared from such a record is guilty of an offence against this Act and is liable on conviction on indictment to a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years.

Note—

If a corporation commits an offence against this provision, an executive officer of the corporation may be taken, under section 49A , to have also committed the offence.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the communication or publication—

(a) is made to another party to the private conversation or with the consent, express or implied, of all other parties to the private conversation, being parties referred to in section 42 (2) (a) ; or

(b) is made in the course of legal proceedings; or

(c) is not more than is reasonably necessary—

(i) in the public interest; or

(ii) in the performance of a duty of the person making the communication or publication; or

(iii) for the protection of the lawful interests of that person; or

(d) is made to a person who has, or is believed, on reasonable grounds, by the person making the communication or publication to have, such an interest in the private conversation as to make the communication or publication reasonable under the circumstances in which it is made; or

(e) is made by a person who used the listening device to overhear, record, monitor, or listen to the private conversation under section 43 (2) (c) or (d) .

(3) In subsection (2) —

"legal proceedings" includes—

(a) proceedings (whether civil or criminal) in or before any court; and

(b) proceedings before justices; and

(c) proceedings before any court, tribunal or person (including any inquiry, examination or arbitration) in which evidence is or may be given; and

(d) any part of legal proceedings.