Explanatory Statement
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities –Victoria) Instrument 2007 (No. 2)
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.
The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities –Victoria) Instrument 2007 (No. 2) is made under subsection 6(2D) of the Act. The related declaration, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities - Victoria) Declaration 2007 (No. 2), is made under subsection 6(2B) of the Act.
The Instrument and Declaration have been amended to amend a reference from Port Melbourne to South Melbourne as this more accurately reflects the geographical location of an emergency service facility operated by the Metropolitan Ambulance Service. Further amendments have been made to include emergency service facilities operated by the Metropolitan Ambulance Service in Burwood and Richmond and an emergency service facility operated by the Air Ambulance Victoria in Essendon.
Consultation with the Metropolitan Ambulance Service and Air Ambulance Victoria was undertaken in relation to the Instrument and Declaration. The Attorney-General is satisfied that the operations at these facilities meet the requirements of section 6 of the Act being facilities operated by an ambulance service of a State to enable that service to deal with requests for assistance in an emergency.
This instrument commences on the day after it is registered.