Explanatory Statement
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities –Western Australia) Instrument 2011
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 Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities – Western Australia) Instrument 2011 (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 the communications without contravening the general prohibition against interception. Subsection 6(2B) of the Act requires that the Minister must be satisfied that the premises are operated by one of the listed forces or services to enable that force or service, or another force or service, to deal with a request for assistance in an emergency.
This exception only applies to emergency services facilities that are declared by the Minister pursuant to subsection 6(2B) of the Act. The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities – Western Australia) Declaration 2011 (the Declaration) is made under subsection 6(2B) of the Act. The Attorney-General, as Minister, is satisfied that the operations at these facilities meet the requirements of subsection 6(2B) of the Act as a service for despatching, or referring matters for the attention of, a Commonwealth, State or ACT police force, fire service or ambulance service.
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 classified as 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 Instrument is made under subsection 6(2D) of the Act.
The Instrument replaces the previous Instrument, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities – Western Australia) Instrument 2007. It replaces the reference in section 5(3) from ‘Western Australia Ambulance Service operates the premises’ to ‘St John Ambulance Australia (Western Australia) operates the two premises’.
St John Ambulance Australia (Western Australia) and the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing were consulted on the Declaration and Instrument.
This instrument commences on the day after it is registered.