Explanatory Statement
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities – Australian Capital Territory) Instrument 2010
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 – Australian Capital Territory) Instrument 2010 is made under subsection 6(2B) of the Act and amends the current instrument. The related declaration, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Emergency Service Facilities – Australian Capital Territory) Declaration 2010, is made under subsection 6(2B) of the Act and amends the current declaration.
The new Instrument and Declaration add an emergency service facility operated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Fairbairn commencing 2 May 2010. The new Instrument and Declaration also remove the emergency service facility operated by the AFP in the Canberra City, commencing 5 May 2010.
Consultation with the Australian Federal Police 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 a police service to enable that service to deal with requests for assistance in an emergency.
Sections 1 to 3 and Schedule 1 of this Instrument commence on 2 May 2010. Schedule 2 of this Instrument commences on 5 May 2010.