Public Health Act 1997

This section applies if—

a responsible person requests a person with a transmissible notifiable condition—

to inform a contact of the contact’s potential exposure to the notifiable condition; or

to give permission to the responsible person to do so; and

the person with the condition refuses that request.

The responsible person may inform the chief health officer of the contact’s potential exposure to that condition.

Upon being informed under subsection (2), the chief health officer may take reasonable steps to ensure that the contact is informed of the contact’s potential exposure to the transmissible notifiable condition, having regard to—

the degree of risk of the contact’s having contracted, or contracting, the condition; and

the possibility of causing undue anxiety to the person with the condition or to the contact; and

any other relevant circumstances.

The steps that the chief health officer may take under subsection (3) to ensure that a contact is informed of the contact’s potential exposure to a transmissible notifiable condition include giving written authority to inform the contact to—

a doctor or nurse practitioner; or

a counsellor whom the chief health officer has reasonable grounds for considering to be suitably qualified and experienced for the purpose.

If a responsible person is authorised under this section to notify the chief health officer or a contact about the contact’s potential exposure to a transmissible notifiable condition, that authority operates despite any duty of confidentiality the responsible person may owe to the person with the condition.

In this section: