Adoption Act 2009

The tribunal may, by order (a confidentiality order), prohibit or restrict the disclosure to a party to an adoption proceeding of all or some of the evidence given before the tribunal, or of the whole or part of the contents of a document given to, or received in evidence by, the tribunal for the review.

Subsection (3) applies for the purpose of the tribunal—

deciding whether to make a confidentiality order; or

giving effect to a confidentiality order.

The tribunal may—

exclude a party, and any representative of the party, from part of an adoption proceeding; or

deal with a document in a way that ensures it is not disclosed to a party.

The tribunal may make a confidentiality order only if it is satisfied that if it does not do so—

a child is likely to be harmed; or

the safety of another person is likely to be endangered; or

there would be undue interference with the privacy of a child or another person.

The tribunal may act under subsection (1) on its own initiative or on application by a party to an adoption proceeding.

A confidentiality order does not act to prohibit or limit the disclosure of material to a separate representative in an adoption proceeding.