Commonwealth Numbered Acts

SOCIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 1994 No. 63, 1994 - SECT 14

14. Section 1312A of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section
is substituted:

Offence-unauthorised access to protected information

"1312A. If:

   (a)  a person intentionally obtains information; and

   (b)  the person:

        (i)    is not authorised or required by or under this Act or the Farm 
               Household Support Act 1992 ; and

        (ii)   has no other lawful authority; to obtain the information; and

   (c)  the person knows or ought reasonably to know that the information is
        protected information; the person is guilty of an offence. Penalty:
        Imprisonment for 2 years. Note 1: Subsection 4B(2) of the
        Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose an appropriate fine instead
        of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. If a body corporate is
        convicted of the offence, subsection 4B(3) of that Act allows a court
        to impose a fine of an amount that is not greater than 5 times the
        maximum fine that could be imposed by the court on an individual
        convicted of the same offence. Note 2: A person, including an officer,
        is authorised to obtain protected information for the purposes of this
        Act or the Farm Household Support Act  1992 (see subsection 1312(1)).
        Note 3: For 'protected information' see subsection 23(1). Note 4: If a
        person is guilty of an offence under this section and the person is an
        employee or agent of another person, the other person may also be
        guilty of the offence (see sections 1358A and 1358B).".