Explanatory Statement
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities –Tasmania) Instrument 2007
The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the Act) establishes a general prohibition against the interception of communications passing over a telecommunications system. The purpose of the Instrument is to ensure that listening to or recording calls to and from a declared emergency service facility is not an interception for the purposes of the Act.
Subsection 6(2F) of the Act provides that a person who is lawfully engaged in duties relating to the receiving and handling of communications to or from an ‘emergency service facility’ may listen to or record a communication to or from the emergency service facility without contravening the general prohibition against interception.
The exception provided by subsection 6(2F) of the Act only applies to emergency services facilities that are declared by the Minister pursuant to subsection 6(2B) of the
Act. To protect against the publication of the location of the facilities, which are critical infrastructure, a declaration under subsection 6(2B) of the Act is not a legislative instrument.
To maintain Parliamentary scrutiny of the declarations, subsection 6(2D) of the Act provides that the Minister must, by legislative instrument, specify the name of the force or service operating the premises to which the declaration relates, and the geographical region in which those premises are located.
In December 2005, the Attorney-General, as Minister administering the Act, made the Telecommunications (Interception) (Emergency Service Facility) Declaration 2005 and eight corresponding legislative instruments. On further consideration, a single declaration has caused significant complexity with amendments.
Consequently, the Attorney-General has now made eight separate declarations and eight separate corresponding legislative instruments. This will facilitate the ease of future amendments, which for operational reasons, will always need to be made urgently.
The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities –Tasmania) Instrument 2007 is made under subsection 6(2D) of the Act. The related declaration, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities - Tasmania) Declaration 2007, is made under subsection 6(2B) of the Act.
The only material change to the declared facilities in Tasmania since the previous instrument was made is the removal of the Burnie Control Room.
This instrument commences on the day after it is registered.