EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No. 164
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES (CONFIDENTIALITY) ACT
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES (CONFIDENTIALITY) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 13 of the Epidemiological Studies (Confidentiality) Act 1981 (the Act) provides that the Governor General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out giving effect to the Act.
The purpose of the Act is to provide for the confidentiality of information collected in prescribed epidemiological studies conducted by or on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Sub-section 3(1) of the Act defines a prescribed study as, inter alia, a Commonwealth epidemiological study declared by the regulations to be a study to which the Act applies and which may be conducted by or on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Section 4 of the Act is the secrecy provision which prohibits a person who assists or has assisted in the conducting of the prescribed study from disclosing any information acquired in the course of the study concerning any person.
The purpose of the Statutory Rules is to declare three epidemiological studies as prescribed studies; the studies are being conducted by the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse
into motivations for illicit use of cocaine, the distribution of heroin and a drug indicators research project in the Australian Capital Territory.
The cocaine study involves interviews with a small sample of drug users from certain occupations (especially law, the computing industry, academia and the Arts). The study is concerned with experiences of and motivations for drug use.
The heroin study is an investigation of the distribution of heroin in the Sydney metropolitan area, and the purpose of the study is to provide estimates of current and future levels of heroin use and supply.
The drug indicators research project monitors illicit drug use in the Australian Capital Territory. The project will develop methods of monitoring drug use and will test information on patterns of drug use.
The information being provided is often of a personal and self-incriminating nature. To enable the studies to continue, participants will require assurance that any information which they provide to those conducting the studies will not be published or disclosed in a manner which would allow the identification of any individual person. Prescribing the studies as Commonwealth epidemiological studies will provide this assurance.
The Regulations came into operation on the date of their notification in the Gazette.