{"id":"tas:sr-2009-096","name":"Proclamation under the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006","slug":"proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"96 of 2009","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":315472,"registerId":"tas-tas:sr-2009-096-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-08","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Proclamation under the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006","content":"> Proclamation under the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006\n\nI, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, by this my proclamation made under [section 2 of the](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2006-023#GS2@EN) [Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2006-023) fix 1 September 2009 as the day on which that Act commences.\n\n10 August 2009\n\nPETER G. UNDERWOOD\n\nGovernor\n\nBy His Excellency's Command,\n\nLARA GIDDINGS\n\nMinister for Justice\n\nDisplayed and numbered in accordance with the *[Rules Publication Act 1953](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1953-050)*.\n\nNotified in the *Gazette* on 19 August 2009\n\nThis proclamation is administered in the Department of Justice.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The proclamation does not alter the substantive scope or content of the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006; it only sets the Act's commencement date as 1 September 2009 under the commencement power referenced (s.2)."},"complexity_factors":["Single-purpose instrument: sole legal effect is to fix a commencement date (straightforward statutory function).","Power source identified: made under section 2 of the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006 (proclamation references s.2).","Decision-maker and process: issued by the Governor acting with the advice of the Executive Council (text: \"acting with the advice of the Executive Council\").","Administrative steps recorded: notified in the Gazette and administered by the Department of Justice (text notes Gazette notification and administration).","No substantive legal change: does not amend or add substantive provisions to the underlying Act; compliance burdens and policy effects flow from the Act once commenced, not from this proclamation."],"plain_english_summary":"This proclamation sets 1 September 2009 as the day the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006 begins to operate in Tasmania and its dependencies. It is an administrative act by the Governor, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, that brings the pre-existing 2006 Act into force; the proclamation does not itself change the Act’s text but activates the Act’s legal effects from that date."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Document header / Status Information","severity":"low","reasoning":"Proclamations bringing Acts or provisions into force are typically spent once operative. A proclamation remaining 'current' and 'in force' for 17 years without amendment or revocation suggests either the parent Act has never been properly activated, or the proclamation is a spent instrument being inappropriately treated as ongoing legislation.","confidence":0.55,"description":"The proclamation purports to be 'current from 19 August 2009 to date' yet the file was 'last modified 5 July 2017', meaning the instrument has ostensibly been unchanged for nearly 8 years yet is simultaneously described as continuously 'current'. A proclamation under a Police Powers Act that has never required amendment over such a period is facially implausible for operational subordinate legislation."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Document structure / entire instrument","severity":"high","reasoning":"A proclamation is a species of statutory instrument whose entire legal function is to declare something operative (e.g. bring an Act into force, appoint a person, fix a date). Without any operative clause, the instrument is legally vacuous. It cannot be complied with, enforced, or given effect. This is not a drafting ambiguity but a complete absence of legal content.","confidence":0.92,"description":"The instrument as presented contains no substantive operative content whatsoever — no clauses, no schedule, no commencement date nominated, no provisions proclaimed into force. A Proclamation that proclaims nothing is logically incapable of compliance or breach and cannot serve any statutory purpose."},{"type":"other","section":"Title (repeated headers)","severity":"low","reasoning":"While likely a rendering/formatting artefact, if taken at face value as the legislative text, the recursive self-referential heading structure ('Proclamation under the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006' appearing inside a document already so titled) is logically circular — the instrument identifies itself by reference to itself without independent content.","confidence":0.7,"description":"The title of the instrument is reproduced at least four times verbatim within the document, including nested repetitions of identical heading text. A legislative instrument that duplicates its own title creates structural ambiguity about which instance constitutes the authoritative commencement of the operative provisions."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Status Information (repeated)","severity":"low","reasoning":"Duplicate operative sections in legislation create interpretive impossibility: a court must determine which instance prevails, but no provision establishes priority. While clearly a formatting error in the web rendering, as presented the document is internally self-duplicating.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The 'Status Information' section, including its sub-headings 'Currency of version', 'Table of Amending Instruments', 'Responsible Minister and Department', and 'Authorisation', each appear twice verbatim. If treated as legislative text rather than metadata, this creates duplicate operative provisions with no mechanism for resolving conflicts between the two instances."},{"type":"other","section":"Authorisation / File last modified 5 July 2017","severity":"medium","reasoning":"If the 2017 modification was substantive, it should appear in the Table of Amending Instruments but apparently does not. If it was non-substantive, describing a legal instrument as 'last modified' on a date different from its operative date misleads readers about the instrument's legal currency. Either way, there is a logical inconsistency between the modification date and the amendments table.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The instrument states it is 'current from 19 August 2009 to date' but was 'last modified 5 July 2017'. Under standard Tasmanian drafting practice, modification of a proclaimed instrument without a corresponding entry in the Table of Amending Instruments creates an unacknowledged amendment — the modification either amended the proclamation (requiring disclosure) or was purely administrative (in which case 'file last modified' is misleading metadata on a legal instrument)."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Currency of version: 'Version current from 19 August 2009 to date'","section_b":"Authorisation: 'File last modified 5 July 2017'","confidence":0.65,"description":"The instrument asserts it has been continuously current since 19 August 2009 without amendment, yet also records a file modification on 5 July 2017. These two statements are mutually contradictory: a file modification implies a change was made, but an unchanged currency date implies no change occurred."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Table of Amending Instruments (clickable link to amendments table)","section_b":"Authorisation: 'File last modified 5 July 2017' / Currency unchanged since 19 August 2009","confidence":0.5,"description":"The existence of a dedicated 'Table of Amending Instruments' implies amendments may exist and are to be disclosed, while the currency information implies the instrument has never been amended since 2009. If the 2017 file modification constituted an amendment, it should appear in the Table. If it did not, the Table is superfluous and misleading on a spent or unamended instrument."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"As a commencement proclamation, this instrument has no independent legislative scope of its own — its sole function is to activate the parent Act. There is no evidence of scope change from original intent; it performs exactly the narrow administrative role proclamations are designed for."},"complexity_factors":["The document itself is purely administrative — it is a commencement proclamation with minimal substantive content","The underlying Act (Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006) would be more complex, but its detail is not reproduced here","No operative provisions, schedules, or definitions are present in the document as provided","Single, clear purpose: to bring the Act into force from a specified date"],"plain_english_summary":"This Proclamation is the Governor of Tasmania’s formal notice bringing the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006 into operation. It authorises, from 19 August 2009, the legal use of assumed identities by Tasmanian police and authorised investigators for undercover work—affecting officers, suspects targeted in serious-crime investigations, and public safety through enhanced law enforcement capabilities."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a commencement proclamation, which by definition has a narrow, single-purpose scope: to activate legislation on a specific date. It has not expanded beyond this original purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision: fixes one commencement date","No defined terms","No cross-references to other legislation (except citation of the parent Act)","No conditional logic or exceptions","Standard proclamation format — essentially a template with blanks filled in","Total length: 8 sentences"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a formal government notice (called a 'proclamation') that sets the start date for a Tasmanian law about police using fake identities.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Activates the Police Powers (Assumed Identities) Act 2006** — a law that allows police officers and others to use false names and identities when working undercover\n- **Sets the start date:** The law begins on **1 September 2009**\n\n**Who made it:**\n- The Governor of Tasmania (Peter G. Underwood), acting on advice from the state's Executive Council\n- Signed off by the Minister for Justice (Lara Giddings)\n\n**Why it matters:**\nLaws don't automatically start when Parliament passes them. This proclamation is the official 'switch' that turns the law on. Without this document, the Assumed Identities Act would just sit on the shelf unused. This gives police the legal power to create and use fake identities for undercover operations — but only from 1 September 2009 onwards.\n\n**Key point:** This isn't the actual police powers law itself — it's just the official notice that tells everyone when that law starts working."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006","history":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006/history","analysis":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-police-powers-assumed-identities-act-2006/documents"}}