Western Australian Consolidated Acts

GAMING AND WAGERING COMMISSION ACT 1987 - SECT 20A

20A .         Certain information provided by police to be kept confidential

        (1)         In this section —

        confidential police information means any information or document classified as confidential under subsection (2);

        relevant Act means this Act, the Betting Control Act 1954 , the RWWA Act or the Casino Control Act 1984 .

        (2)         For the purposes of this section, the Commissioner of Police may classify as confidential any information or document that is —

            (a)         provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Commission as a report, or part of a report, under section 18(4); or

            (b)         otherwise provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Commission for the purposes of a relevant Act.

        (3)         Despite any provision of a relevant Act, any information or document provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Commission for the purposes of a relevant Act must not be published or disclosed by the Commission to any person (except to the Minister, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations appointed under section 5 of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 , the Corruption and Crime Commission established under the Corruption and Crime Commission Act 2003 , the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission appointed under the Corruption and Crime Commission Act 2003 , a court or a person to whom the Commissioner of Police authorises its disclosure) if the information or document is classified as confidential police information.

        (4)         If —

            (a)         the Commission —

                  (i)         refuses to grant or issue or renew; or

                  (ii)         amends, suspends, cancels or revokes,

                any permit, approval, certificate, licence or authorisation under a relevant Act; and

            (b)         the decision to do so is made solely or partly on the basis of confidential police information provided to the Commission,

                the Commission is not required to give any reasons for the decision other than that the decision is made in the public interest.

        (5)         In any proceedings (other than proceedings for an offence) before a court under a relevant Act, the court —

            (a)         must, on the application of the Commissioner of Police, take all reasonable steps to maintain the confidentiality of confidential police information, including steps —

                  (i)         to receive evidence and hear argument about confidential police information in private and in the absence of any party to the proceedings other than the Commission or the Commissioner of Police or their representatives; and

                  (ii)         to prohibit the publication of evidence about confidential police information;

                and

            (b)         may take evidence consisting of or relating to confidential police information by way of an affidavit of a member of the Police Force of or above the rank of Superintendent.

        (6)         The Commissioner of Police must not delegate the function of classifying information or documents as confidential police information except to a Deputy Commissioner of Police or an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

        [Section 20A inserted by No. 73 of 2006 s. 113.]