Information requirement made by public guardian
87 Information requirement made by public guardian
The public guardian may ask a prescribed entity for particular information in the entity’s possession or control for the purpose of this part.
Subject to this section, the prescribed entity must comply with the request.
However, if the prescribed entity is the director of public prosecutions or the chief executive officer of Legal Aid Queensland, the information to be made available by the director or chief executive officer must not relate to anyone or anything other than a child and the child’s circumstances.
Examples of information that does not relate to the child and the child’s circumstances—
If the director of public prosecutions is prosecuting a parent of the child for an offence against the child, the director is not required to provide information about the prosecution of the parent. Similarly, if Legal Aid Queensland is also representing a parent of the child, Legal Aid Queensland is not required to provide information relevant to the parent’s representation.
For subsection (1), information is not taken to be in the prescribed entity’s control merely because of an agreement between the prescribed entity and another entity under which the other entity must give the information to the prescribed entity.
A prescribed entity may refuse to comply with a request under this section to provide information that is subject to legal professional privilege.
Also, a prescribed entity may refuse to comply with a request under this section to provide the information if the prescribed entity decides that giving the information could reasonably be expected to—
prejudice the investigation of a contravention or possible contravention of a law in a particular case; or
prejudice an investigation under the Coroners Act 2003; or
prejudice the effectiveness of a lawful method or procedure for preventing, detecting, investigating or dealing with a contravention or possible contravention of a law; or
enable the existence or identity of a confidential source of information, in relation to the enforcement or administration of a law, to be ascertained; or
endanger a person’s life or physical safety.
The prescribed entity is not required to satisfy itself that the request for particular information is made for the purpose of this part.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
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