27—Insertion of Part 2 Division 6
Part 2—after Division 5 insert:
Division 6—Criminal intelligence
28A—Criminal intelligence
(1) No information
provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Commissioner may be disclosed to
any person (except the Minister, a court or a person to whom the Commissioner
of Police authorises its disclosure) if the information is classified by the
Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence.
(2) If a licensing
authority—
(a)
refuses an application for a licence, the transfer of a licence or an
approval, or takes disciplinary action against a person, or revokes or
proposes to revoke an approval under Part 4 Division 10A; and
(b) the
decision to do so is made because of information that is classified by the
Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence,
the licensing authority is not required to provide any grounds or reasons for
the decision other than that to grant the application would be contrary to the
public interest, or that it would be contrary to the public interest if the
person were to be or continue to be licensed or approved, or that it would be
contrary to the public interest if the approval were to continue in force.
(3) If the
Commissioner of Police lodges an objection to an application under Part 4
because of information that is classified by the Commissioner of Police as
criminal intelligence—
(a) the
Commissioner of Police is not required to serve a copy of the notice of
objection on the applicant; and
(b) the
licensing authority must, at least 7 days before the day appointed for the
hearing of the application, advise the applicant in writing that the
Commissioner of Police has objected to the application on the ground that to
grant the application would be contrary to the public interest.
(4) If the
Commissioner or the Commissioner of Police lodges a complaint under Part 8 in
respect of a person because of information that is classified by the
Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence, the complaint need only state
that it would be contrary to the public interest if the person were to be or
continue to be licensed or approved.
(5) In any proceedings
under this Act, the Commissioner, the Court or the Supreme Court—
(a)
must, on the application of the Commissioner of Police, take steps to maintain
the confidentiality of information classified by the Commissioner of Police as
criminal intelligence, including steps to receive evidence and hear argument
about the information in private in the absence of the parties to the
proceedings and their representatives; and
(b) may
take evidence consisting of or relating to information classified by the
Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence by way of affidavit of a
police officer of or above the rank of superintendent.
(6) The Commissioner
of Police may not delegate the function of classifying information as criminal
intelligence for the purposes of this Act except to a Deputy Commissioner or
Assistant Commissioner of Police.