Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

4: Complaints and discipline

95 Hearings to be public unless Tribunal orders otherwise




    95 Hearings to be public unless Tribunal orders otherwise

  (1)  Every hearing of the Tribunal must be held in public unless the Tribunal
orders otherwise under this section or unless section 97 applies.

  (2)  If, after having regard to the interests of any person (including,
without limitation, the privacy of any complainant) and to the public interest,
the
Tribunal is satisfied that it is desirable to do so, it may (on application by
any of the parties or on its own initiative) make any 1 or more of the
following orders:

      (a)  an order that the whole or any part of a hearing must be held in
private:

      (b)  an order prohibiting the publication of any report or account of any
part of a hearing, whether held in public or in private:

      (c)  an order prohibiting the publication of the whole or any part of any
books, papers, or documents produced at a hearing:

      (d)  an order prohibiting the publication of the name, or any particulars
of the affairs, of any person.

  (3)  An application to the Tribunal for an order under subsection (2) must be
heard in private, but the other parties to the proceedings and any complainant
are entitled to be present and to make written or oral submissions on the
application.

  (4)  If the Tribunal proposes on its own initiative to make an order under
subsection (2), it must give the parties to the proceedings and any complainant
an opportunity to make written or oral submissions on the proposal; all parties
and complainants (if any) are entitled to be present when any oral submissions
are heard.

  (5)  Even if a hearing of the Tribunal is otherwise held in private, the
Tribunal may allow any particular person to attend it if satisfied that he or
she has a particular interest in the matter to be heard.

  (6)  An order made under this section continues in force---

      (a)  until a time specified in it; or

      (b)  if no time is specified, until it is revoked under section 99.

  (7)  Every person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a
fine not exceeding $10,000 who contravenes an order made under subsection
(2).
Compare: 1995 No 95 ss 106(1)-(5), 142(1)(d)
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