South Australian Numbered Acts South Australian Numbered Acts14—Insertion of Part 5 Division 5
After section 42 insert:
Division 5—Information sharing
42A—Central assessment unit may disclose etc information with other jurisdictions
(1) Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, the central assessment unit is authorised to receive and make use of information relevant to the functions of the central assessment unit under this Act from any person or body in this or any other jurisdiction.
(2) Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, the central assessment unit is authorised to disclose information (not being information classified by the Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence) in the possession of the central assessment unit to a prescribed person or body in another State or Territory for purposes related to the screening of persons who work with children.
(3) In this section—
"prescribed person or body" means—
(a) a person or body whose official function consists of or includes the screening of persons who work with children (however described); or
(b) any other person or body prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
42B—Access to police information
(1) The Commissioner of Police is authorised to disclose the following information for the purpose of the use of the information in assessing and determining whether a person who engages or proposes to engage in child-related work poses an unacceptable risk to children:
(a) information relating to any matter that may cause a person to be prohibited from working with children, or require a risk assessment of a person under this Act or a corresponding law;
(b) information relating to the criminal history of a person;
(c) without limiting a preceding paragraph, information relating to the circumstances of an offence or other matter disclosed under this section.
(2) The disclosure of information under this section is limited to disclosure to any of the following:
(a) the central assessment unit;
(b) an interstate screening agency;
(c) the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission;
(d) a law enforcement agency of the Commonwealth or another State or Territory.
(3) A person to whom information is disclosed under this section may disclose that information to an interstate screening agency for the purposes of the use of the information in assessing and determining whether a person poses an unacceptable risk to children.
(4) Information relating to a person's criminal history may be disclosed under this section whether or not the information relates to a prescribed offence or presumptive disqualification offence (within the meaning of section 26A).
(5) This section does not limit the persons to whom, or the circumstances in which, information relating to the criminal history, including the criminal record, of persons may be disclosed apart from this Act.
(6) This section does not limit the powers of the Commissioner of Police to disclose relevant information as an authorised person under this Act.
(7) In this section—
"interstate screening agency" means a person or body exercising functions in the execution or administration of a corresponding law.
42C—Disclosure of information about offences
(1) The central assessment unit may disclose to a law enforcement agency of the State or any other jurisdiction (including a jurisdiction outside Australia) any information obtained as a result of the exercise of a function under this Act that indicates that a relevant offence may have been committed or that constitutes evidence of a relevant offence.
(2) In this section—
"relevant offence" means a prescribed offence, or any other offence declared by the regulations to be included in the ambit of this definition.
42D—Disclose of information to prevent harm
Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, the central assessment unit may disclose information obtained in the course of the administration or operation of this Act to an appropriate person or body if the central assessment unit is of the opinion that to do so is reasonably necessary to prevent harm being caused to a child.
42E—Disclosure of information for research etc purposes
Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, the central assessment unit may disclose information obtained in the course of the administration or operation of this Act to an appropriate person or body for the purposes of research into the operation of this Act or a law of another State or Territory related to the screening of persons who work with children, or auditing of compliance with such laws.
42F—Provision of other information to central assessment unit
(1) Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, a person or body (including, to avoid doubt, an administrative unit or public sector employee within the meaning of the Public Sector Act 2009
) may provide to the central assessment unit any information that the person or body reasonably believes is relevant to the functions of the central assessment unit under this Act.
(2) A person or body incurs no civil or criminal liability in respect of the provision of information to the central assessment unit in good faith and without negligence under this section.
42G—Information sharing for national register or database
Despite a provision of this or any other Act or law, the central assessment unit may disclose information obtained in the operation or administration of this Act for the purpose of providing relevant information for entry in a national register or database relating to the screening of persons who work with children.