Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020

The Secretary may provide information to a relevant agency that is reasonably necessary for the purposes of enabling or assisting the relevant agency to regulate or take other action in respect of one or more of the following—

the preparation of regulated designs and other work done by a registered design practitioner or principal design practitioner,

building work, professional engineering work or specialist work,

practitioners,

compliance declarations,

other matters prescribed by the regulations.

A relevant agency may provide information to the Secretary that is reasonably necessary for the purposes of enabling or assisting the Secretary to exercise the Secretary’s functions under this Act.

Without limiting subsection (1), the Secretary may enter into an arrangement (an information sharing arrangement) with a relevant agency (or in the case of the Tribunal, the President of the Tribunal) for the purposes of sharing or exchanging information held by the Secretary or the agency.

Under an information sharing arrangement, the Secretary and the relevant agency are, despite any other Act or law, authorised—

to request and receive information held by the other party to the arrangement, and

to disclose information to the other party.

Subsection (4) applies only to the extent that the information is reasonably necessary to assist in the exercise of functions of the Secretary under this Act or the functions of the relevant agency.

This section does not—

require the Secretary to provide information to a relevant agency only in accordance with subsection (1), or with an information sharing arrangement, where that information can otherwise be lawfully provided, or

limit the operation of another Act or law under which a relevant agency is authorised or required to disclose information to another person or body.

In this section—

a government sector agency,

the Tribunal,

other persons or bodies prescribed by the regulations.