Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1985

No. 8 of 1985

An Act to amend the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979

[Assented to 29 March 1985]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

Short title, &c.

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1985.

(2) The Telecommunications (Interception) Act 19791 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.

Commencement

2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

Documents may be given to Stewart Royal Commission, Commissioner of Public Complaints of New South Wales or the National Crime Authority

3. Section 7b of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by omitting sub-section (2);

(b) by omitting from sub-section (3) “and the Commissioner is satisfied as to the matters mentioned in sub-section (2), he may make use of the document for the purposes of any inquiry referred to in that paragraph” and substituting “, he may make use of the document for the purposes of any inquiry referred to in that paragraph or any other inquiry that he is authorized to make by an appointment made (whether before or after the commencement of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1985) by the Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor, of the State of New South Wales or the Governor-General, or the Administrator of the Government, of the Commonwealth”;

(c) by omitting from sub-section (4) “and the Commissioner is satisfied as to the matters mentioned in sub-section (2)”;

(d) by omitting from sub-section (5) “and the Authority is satisfied as to the matters mentioned in sub-section (2)”; and

(e) by adding at the end the following sub-section:

“(6) This section has effect notwithstanding sub-section 7 (4).”.

4. After section 7b of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:

Other documents or information may be given to Stewart Royal Commission

“7ba. (1) In this section, ‘unlawfully obtained material’ means a document or information arising out of or relating to the unlawful interception (whether before or after the commencement of this section) in New South Wales of a communication passing over a telecommunications system, being a document or information that discloses the commission of an offence or the possible commission of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or a law of a Territory.

“(2) Nothing in this Act makes it unlawful for a person who has possession of a document or information that is unlawfully obtained material from giving that document or communicating that information to the Honourable Donald Gerard Stewart, being the person referred to in paragraph 7b (1) (a), in connection with an inquiry referred to in that paragraph or any other inquiry that the Honourable Donald Gerard Stewart is authorized to make by an appointment made (whether before or after the commencement of this section) by the Governor, or the Lieutenant-Governor, of the State of New South Wales or the Governor-General, or the Administrator of the Government, of the Commonwealth.

“(3) If unlawfully obtained material is given or communicated to the Honourable Donald Gerard Stewart, he may make use of the material for the purposes of any inquiry referred to in sub-section (2) and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, he may—

(a) in the case of material constituted by a document—

(i) show the document to a person giving evidence in the course of the inquiry;

(ii) include matter contained in the document in any report by him of the results of the inquiry; and

(iii) make such other use of the document as he considers appropriate for the purpose of identifying the person who made the document and the circumstances in which the document was made; and

(b) in the case of material constituted by information—

(i) communicate the information to a person giving evidence in the course of the inquiry;

(ii) include the information in any report by him of the results of the inquiry; and

(iii) make such other use of the information as he considers appropriate for the purpose of identifying the circumstances in which the person who gave the information to him obtained the information.

“(4) Where, in the course of holding an inquiry referred to in sub-section (2), the Honourable Donald Gerard Stewart obtains a document or information that relates, or that may relate, to the commission of an offence, or evidence of the commission of an offence, against a law of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, he may, if in his opinion it is appropriate so to do, give the document or communicate the information, as the case may be, to—

(a) the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, of a State or of the Northern Territory;

(b) the Director of Public Prosecutions;

(c) a Special Prosecutor appointed under the Special Prosecutors Act 1982;

(d) the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police or of the Police Force of a State or of the Northern Territory;

(e) the authority or person responsible for the administration or enforcement of that law; or

(f) the National Crime Authority.

“(5) This section has effect notwithstanding sub-section 7 (4).”.

NOTE

1. No. 114, 1979, as amended. For previous amendments, see No. 181, 1979; Nos. 114 and 116, 1983; and Nos. 6 and 116, 1984.

[Minister’s second reading speech made in—

House of Representatives on 28 March 1985

Senate on 28 March 1985]