Untitled document

Justice Legislation Amendment (Body-worn Cameras and Other Matters) Act 2017

No. 54 of 2017

table of provisions

Section  Page

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

2Commencement

Part 2—Amendment of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999

3Definitions

4Regulation of installation, use and maintenance of listening devices

5Regulation of installation, use and maintenance of optical surveillance devices

6Protected information

7Permitted use of local protected information

Part 3—Amendment of the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958

8Prohibition of reporting of names

9New section 5 inserted

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act

10Repeal of amending Act

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Endnotes

1      General information

Justice Legislation Amendment (Body-worn Cameras and Other Matters) Act 2017

No. 54 of 2017

[Assented to 8 November 2017]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

The purposes of this Act are—

(a)to amend the Surveillance Devices Act 1999—

(i)to facilitate the use of body-worn cameras and tablet computers by police, ambulance officers and prescribed persons to record certain private conversations in the course of their duties without a warrant under that Act; and

(ii)to extend restrictions on the use, communication and publication of information obtained through the use of surveillance devices to body-worn cameras and tablet computers by police, ambulance officers and prescribed persons; and

(b)to amend the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 to permit the disclosure of certain information to prescribed persons or bodies to enable them to perform their statutory functions.

2Commencement

(1)Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(2)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 30 June 2018, it comes into operation on that day.

Part 2—Amendment of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999

3Definitions

In section 3(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 insert the following definitions—

"ambulance officer means an operational staff member within the meaning of the Ambulance Services Act 1986;

body-worn camera means a camera normally worn on the person that is capable of recording visual images or sound or both, whether or not the camera is being worn when the recording takes place;

tablet computer means a mobile computer that contains a camera and a microphone;".

4Regulation of installation, use and maintenance of listening devices

(1)In section 6(2) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999—

(a)in paragraph (c)(iii), for "safety." substitute "safety; or";

(b)after paragraph (c) insert—

"(d)the overt use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a police officer or an ambulance officer acting in the course of the officer's duty and the recording of a private conversation to which the officer is not a party is inadvertent, unexpected or incidental to that use; or

(e)the overt use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a prescribed person, or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons, acting in the course of the person's duties in the prescribed circumstances and the recording of a private conversation to which the person is not a party is inadvertent, unexpected or incidental to that use.".

(2)After section 6(2) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 insert—

"(3)For the purposes of subsection (2)(d) and (e), a police officer, an ambulance officer, a prescribed person or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons is not required to inform a person that the person is being recorded with a body-worn camera or a tablet computer.".

5Regulation of installation, use and maintenance of optical surveillance devices

(1)In section 7(2) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999—

(a)in paragraph (c)(ii), for "interests." substitute "interests; or";

(b)after paragraph (c) insert—

"(d)the overt use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a police officer or an ambulance officer acting in the course of the officer's duty and the recording of a private activity to which the officer is not a party is inadvertent, unexpected or incidental to that use; or

(e)the overt use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a prescribed person, or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons, acting in the course of the person's duties in the prescribed circumstances and the recording of a private activity to which the person is not a party is inadvertent, unexpected or incidental to that use.".

(2)After section 7(2) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 insert—

"(3)For the purposes of subsection (2)(d) and (e), a police officer, an ambulance officer, a prescribed person or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons is not required to inform a person that the person is being recorded with a body-worn camera or a tablet computer.".

6Protected information

In section 30D of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999, in the definition of protected information, after paragraph (a) insert—

"(ab)any information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a police officer or an ambulance officer acting in the course of the officer's duty; or

(ac)any information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a prescribed person, or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons, acting in the course of the person's duties in the prescribed circumstances; or".

7Permitted use of local protected information

(1)After section 30F(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 insert—

"(1A)Without limiting subsection (1), local protected information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a police officer or an ambulance officer acting in the course of the officer's duty may be used, communicated or published for—

(a)the education and training of police officers or ambulance officers, as the case requires; or

(b)any prescribed purpose.

(1B)Without limiting subsection (1), local protected information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a prescribed person, or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons, acting in the course of the person's duties in the prescribed circumstances may be used, communicated or published for—

(a)the education and training of prescribed persons or persons belonging to the same class of prescribed persons; or

(b)any prescribed purpose.".

(2)In section 30F(4) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999, in the definition of local protected information—

(a)in paragraph (b)(ii), for "authorisation." substitute "authorisation; or";

(b)after paragraph (b) insert—

"(c)any information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a police officer or an ambulance officer acting in the course of the officer's duty; or

(d)any information obtained from the use of a body-worn camera or a tablet computer by a prescribed person, or a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons, acting in the course of the person's duties in the prescribed circumstances.".

Part 3—Amendment of the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958

8Prohibition of reporting of names

(1)In section 4(1) of the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958, the definitions of Judicial College of Victoria and Sentencing Advisory Council are repealed.

(2)For section 4(1D) of the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 substitute—

"(1D)This section does not prevent a disclosure of information to a prescribed person or body for the purpose of enabling the person or body to perform a prescribed statutory function.".

9New section 5 inserted

After section 4 of the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 insert—

"5   Regulations

(1)The Governor in Council may make regulations for or with respect to any matter or thing required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary to be prescribed to give effect to this Act.

(2)The regulations—

(a)may be of general or limited application; and

(b)may differ according to differences in time, place or circumstances.".

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act

10Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on 30 June 2019.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 9 August 2017

Legislative Council: 7 September 2017

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 in relation to the use of body-worn cameras and tablet computers by police, ambulance officers and prescribed persons and the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 in relation to the disclosure of information and for other purposes."