38Power of investigator to
obtain information, documents and evidence
(1)
If the Secretary believes on reasonable grounds
that a person is capable of giving information, producing documents or other
items or giving evidence in relation to a matter that constitutes, or may
constitute, an offence against this Act or the regulations, an investigator
may, by notice in writing given to the person, require the person:
(a)
to provide an investigator, in writing signed by
the person (or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent officer of the
body corporate) and given to the investigator within the time and in the
manner specified in the notice, with any such information,
or
(b)
to produce to an investigator, in accordance with
the notice, any such documents or items, or
(c)
to appear before an investigator at a time and
place specified in the notice and give any such evidence, either orally or in
writing, and produce any such documents or items.
(2)
If the Secretary believes on reasonable grounds
that a person has engaged, or is engaging, in conduct that constitutes, or may
constitute, an offence against this Act or the regulations, an investigator
may, for the purpose of ascertaining by the examination of documents in the
possession or under the control of the person whether the person has engaged,
or is engaging, in that conduct:
(a)
enter and remain in any holiday park, site or
other premises, and
(b)
inspect any documents or items in the possession
or under the control of the person, and
(c)
make copies or photographs of, or take extracts
from, those documents or items.
(3)
A person must not:
(a)
without reasonable excuse, refuse or fail to
comply with a notice under this section to the extent that the person is
capable of complying with it, or
(b)
in purported compliance with such a notice,
provide information, or give evidence, that the person knows is false or
misleading, or
(c)
hinder or obstruct an investigator exercising his
or her functions under subsection (2).
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty
units.
(4)
A natural person is excused from providing
information, giving evidence or producing or permitting the inspection of a
document or item in accordance with this section on the ground that the
information, evidence, document or item may tend to incriminate the
person.
(5)
This section does not authorise any person to
enter a part of any site that is being used only for residential purposes or
is physically occupied without the consent of the occupier of that part of the
site.
ss 38–40: Am
2016 No 55, Sch 1.12 [2].