Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered Acts(1) This section applies to—
(a) the Chief Examiner; and
(b) an Examiner; and
(c) the Special Investigations Monitor; and
(d) any employee referred to in section 13 of the Major Crime (Special Investigations Monitor) Act 2004 ; and
(e) a member of the police force.
(2) A person to whom this section applies who, either directly or indirectly, except for the purposes of this Act or otherwise in connection with the performance of his or her functions under this Act or, in the case of a member of the police force, for the purposes of investigating or prosecuting an offence, and either while he or she is or after he or she ceases to be a person to whom this section applies—
(a) makes a record of any information; or
(b) divulges or communicates to any person any information—
being information acquired by him or her by reason of, or in the course of, the performance of his or her functions under this Act, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to level 6 imprisonment (5 years maximum).
(3) A person to whom this section applies cannot be required to produce in any court any document that has come into his or her custody or control in the course of, or by reason of, the performance of his or her functions under this Act, or to divulge or communicate to a court a matter or thing that has come to his or her notice in the performance of those functions, except where the Chief Examiner, an Examiner, the Special Investigations Monitor or the member of the police force in his or her official capacity, is a party to the relevant proceeding or it is necessary to do so—
(a) for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act; or
(b) for the purposes of a prosecution instituted as a result of an investigation carried out by the police force into an organised crime offence.
(4) In this section—
"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions;
"produce" includes permit access to, and "production" has a corresponding meaning.