Mining Act 1992

A protected document—

is not admissible in evidence against any person in any proceedings connected with the administration or enforcement of this Act, the environment protection legislation or such other legislation, if any, as may be prescribed by the regulations, and

must not be inspected, copied, seized or otherwise obtained by the Department, any authority prescribed by the regulations or by any other person for any purpose connected with such administration or enforcement.

Neither the Department, a prescribed authority nor any other person may, for the purpose referred to in subsection (1) (b), require a person to answer any question or provide any information about the existence of the document or about what it contains.

The onus of establishing that a document is a protected document lies on the person asserting that it is protected.

A court may inspect any document that is claimed to be a protected document for the purpose of determining whether it is or is not a protected document.

The regulations may prescribe procedures for making and determining claims that a document is a protected document.