Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008

A person who is, or has been, employed in carrying out duties related to the administration of this Act must not disclose information acquired in the course, or as a result, of carrying out those duties if that information is confidential and, at the time it is provided to the person, the person providing it states that it is of a confidential nature except – as may be required for the purposes of this Act; or as authorised by the person to whom the duty of confidentiality is owed; or as authorised or required by the regulations; or as authorised or required by a court or other lawfully constituted authority; or as authorised or required by the Minister or the Treasurer, as applicable, after consultation with the person to whom the duty of confidentiality is owed. Fine not exceeding 500 penalty units.

No civil liability attaches to any person for a disclosure of confidential information made as authorised or required under subsection (1).

The Regulator may, in connection with the performance of functions or the exercise of powers under this Act, disclose confidential information to any person if the Regulator is of the opinion – that the disclosure of the information would not cause detriment to the person supplying it or to the person from whom that person received it; or that, although the disclosure of the information would cause detriment to such a person, the public benefit in disclosing it outweighs that detriment.

Where subsection (3) applies, the person to whom the duty of confidentiality is owed must be afforded an opportunity prior to disclosure to withdraw the relevant confidential information from the Regulator.

If the person to whom the duty of confidentiality is owed has withdrawn confidential information under subsection (4), the Regulator may have no regard to the confidential information in performing functions or exercising powers under this Act.

For the purposes of this section – confidential information includes a confidential document.