Queensland Consolidated Acts

VICTIMS OF CRIME ASSISTANCE ACT 2009 - SECT 65

65 Obtaining information about act of violence from police commissioner

(1) The government assessor may ask the police commissioner for the following for a stated act of violence in relation to which assistance is sought—

(a) information about—

(i) the circumstances of the act of violence, including details of the injury suffered by a victim of the act; or

(ii) the progress of investigations being conducted about the act of violence; or

(iii) the charge (if any) laid for the act of violence and details of the place and date of hearing of the proceeding for the charge; or

(iv) if a charge is not laid or not continued with—the reasons for not laying or continuing with a charge; or

(v) the outcome of a proceeding for the charge, including any sentence imposed and the outcome of any appeal;

(b) a copy of any statement about the act of violence made by the primary victim of the act or the person who allegedly committed the act, including a recording of the questioning of the person under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 , section 436 ;

(c) further details about any of the information mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) , including any changes to the information previously provided.

(2) The police commissioner must comply with a request under subsection (1) .

(3) The police commissioner’s obligation to comply with a request under subsection (1) applies only—

(a) to information in the police commissioner’s possession or to which the police commissioner has access; and

(b) for a statement requested under subsection (1) (b) that is made by the person who allegedly committed the act of violence—if the police commissioner is reasonably satisfied the government assessor reasonably requires the statement to decide the application.

(4) The police commissioner must not give information about an investigation relating to the act of violence if the police commissioner is reasonably satisfied giving the information—

(a) may prejudice or otherwise hinder an investigation or prosecution to which the information may be relevant; or

(b) may lead to the identification of an informant or a person who is a notifier under the Child Protection Act 1999 , section 186 ; or

(c) may affect the safety of a police officer, complainant or other person; or

(d) may lead to the disclosure of methods, practices or systems used generally by police in investigating alleged offences.

(5) The police commissioner may give information requested under subsection (1) by allowing the government assessor to access an electronic database maintained by the police service.

(6) If the police commissioner gives the government assessor access to an electronic database as mentioned in subsection (5) , the access to, and the use of, the database is limited to the extent it is connected with the requested information.

(7) The giving of information under subsection (2) is authorised despite any other Act or law, including a law imposing an obligation to maintain confidentiality about the information.

Note—

See section 140 for restrictions on disclosing or giving access to information or documents obtained under this Act.

(8) In this section—

"information" includes a document.

Example of a document—

a recording from a body-worn camera under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 , section 609A .