EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Staff Members of Northern Territory Police) Declaration 2007
Under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the Act) warrants may be issued to agencies to permit the interception of communications. The power to exercise the authority conferred by an interception warrant may only be exercised by an officer or staff member of an agency in relation to whom an approval is in force pursuant to subsection 55(3) of the Act.
Subsection 55(3) provides that the chief officer of an agency may approve officers or staff members, or classes of officers or staff members, of the agency or another agency to exercise the authority conferred by warrants. An ‘officer’ in relation to the Police Force of a State is defined as an officer of that Police Force and a ‘staff member’ is defined as an Australian Federal Police (AFP) employee who is not a ‘member’ of the AFP. Accordingly, the chief officer of an agency may approve sworn members of the Police Force to exercise the authority conferred by warrants.
Section 6N of the Act enables the Attorney-General to declare that members of an agency included in a specified class of members occupy positions corresponding to those of AFP employees who are not members of the AFP. The effect of such a declaration is to enable the chief officer of an agency to approve unsworn staff members of a Police Force to execute the authority conferred by warrants.
The Northern Territory Police were declared to be an agency for the purposes of the Act on 24 October 2006. Accordingly, the Northern Territory Police can apply for warrants and intercept communications under the Act. The Northern Territory Police requested that a declaration pursuant to section 6N of the Act be made in relation to unsworn members of the Northern Territory Police employed or seconded to the Special Projects Unit who will have the function of monitoring intercepted communications.
On reviewing the duties and conditions of employment, the Attorney-General is satisfied that unsworn members of the Northern Territory Police employed or seconded to the Special Projects Unit occupy sufficiently corresponding positions to those of staff members of the Australian Federal Police.
Accordingly, the Attorney-General has executed an instrument declaring that the
unsworn members of the Northern Territory Police employed or seconded to the Special Projects Unit occupy positions corresponding to those of staff members of the Australian Federal Police. This means that the Commissioner of the Northern Territory Police is able to approve these unsworn members to exercise the authority conferred by an interception warrant.