(1) A person who is or has been a member of the Board or a member of the staff of the Board, must not, directly or indirectly, make a record of, or disclose or communicate to another person, any information obtained in the course of the performance of the person's functions under this Act unless—
(a) for a purpose or in a circumstance specified in subsection (2); and
(b) in the case of a disclosure or communication of information to a relevant person, the person disclosing or communicating the information is satisfied that—
(i) the information will be collected, stored and used by the relevant person in a way that ensures the protection of the privacy of any person to whom the information relates; and
(ii) the provision of the information to the relevant person is necessary to enable the relevant person to perform their functions.
Penalty: 60 penalty units.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the purposes or circumstances are as follows—
(a) for the purposes of, or in connection with, the administration and enforcement of this Act or the regulations or a law of another State or Territory that corresponds with this Act or the regulations;
(b) for the purposes of assisting any of the following persons to perform a function under this Act or any other Act or to assist those persons in the performance of such functions—
(i) a member of, or officer employed by, the Board;
(ii) a person authorised by the Board for the purposes of this Act;
(iii) a relevant person;
(c) the information relates to a proceeding before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that is open to the public;
(d) the information is reasonably required for the purposes of the enforcement of any other Act, or a law of another State or a Territory;
(e) for the purposes of reducing risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of a natural person to whom the information relates;
(f) for the purposes of reducing risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public or the health or welfare of animals;
(g) the information is in a form that does not identify a natural person to whom the information relates;
(h) the disclosure is authorised in writing by the person to whom the information relates;
(i) the disclosure is authorised in writing by the Board on the grounds that the disclosure is in the public interest.
(3) In this section—
"relevant person" means any of the following persons—
(a) the Director of Public Prosecutions;
(b) a police officer;
(c) a person appointed by the Board under Part 3 or Part 8;
(d) a registered medical practitioner performing a function under Part 3;
(e) a barrister or solicitor engaged to assist the Board in relation to a formal or informal hearing or a prosecution for an offence against a provision of this Act;
(f) a specialist inspector or a general inspector appointed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 ;
(g) an authorised officer within the meaning of the Domestic Animals Act 1994 ;
(h) an inspector within the meaning of the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994 ;
(i) an authorised officer within the meaning of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act 1992 ;
(j) an authorised officer within the meaning of the Wildlife Act 1975 ;
(k) an authorized officer within the meaning of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 ;
(l) a gambling and liquor inspector within the meaning of the Racing Act 1958 ;
(m) the Secretary;
(n) any person employed under Part 3 of the Public Administration Act 2004 in the administration of the Racing Act 1958 ;
(o) a person who performs, or assists a person to perform, functions similar to or equivalent to those performed by a person referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) and (f) to (n) under a law of another State or a Territory;
(p) any other person, or a person of
a class of person, prescribed for the purposes of this section.
Part 7—Reporting and financial provisions