Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

STUDENT ASSISTANCE ACT 1973 - SECT 357

  (1)   If:

  (a)   a person solicits the disclosure of protected information from an officer or another person; and

  (b)   the disclosure would be in contravention of this Division; and

  (c)   the first - mentioned person knows or ought reasonably to know that the information is protected information;

then, whether or not any protected information is actually disclosed, the first - mentioned person commits an offence punishable on conviction by imprisonment for a period of not more than 2 years.

Note 1:   Subsection   4B(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court that convicts an individual of an offence to impose a fine instead of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. The maximum fine that a court can impose on the individual is worked out by multiplying the maximum term of imprisonment (in months) by 5, and then multiplying the resulting number by the amount of a penalty unit. The amount of a penalty unit is stated in section   4AA of that Act.

Note 2:   For protected information see subsection   3(1).

Note 3:   For officer see subsection   3(1).

  (2)   For the purposes of an offence against subsection   (1), strict liability applies to the physical element of circumstance, that the contravention is a contravention of this Division.

Note:   For strict liability, see section   6.1 of the Criminal Code .