{"id":"F2009B00186","name":"Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 - Declaration of agency - New South Wales Police Force","slug":"telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":121626,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2009B00186-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 - Declaration of agency - New South Wales Police Force","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\nmeta-generator: Aspose.Words for .NET 20.2\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n \n\nTelecommunications (interception) Act 1979\n\nDECLARATION UNDER SUBSECTION 34 (1)\n\nWhereas the acting Premier of the State of New South Wales has requested that the New South Wales Police Force be declared an agency for the purposes of the Act, and\n\n Whereas I am satisfied that the law of New South Wales makes satisfactory provision in relation to the matters set out in subsection 35 (1) of the Act, and\n\n Whereas I am satisfied that the State of New South Wales has entered into an agreement as required by subsection 35 (2),\n\n Now therefore I, LIONEL FROST BOWEN, Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, hereby declare, under subsection 34 (1) of the Act, the New South Wales Police Force to be an agency for the purposes of the Act.\n\nDated this 23rd day of January 1989.\n\nLIONEL BOWEN\n\nAttorney-General\n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The declaration implements the mechanism provided by subsection 34(1) of the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 by naming the New South Wales Police Force as an agency. It does not, on its face, expand or narrow the Act's substantive scope; it records the Attorney‑General's satisfactions under subsections 35(1) and 35(2) as prerequisites for the declaration, consistent with the procedure the Act prescribes."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose declaration with limited operative text (low internal complexity).","References to other provisions (subsections 34(1), 35(1) and 35(2)) require cross-reference to the main Act to see full effects.","Reliance on the Attorney‑General's subjective satisfaction introduces an administrative‑law element (discretion) to verify.","Dependence on an intergovernmental agreement (35(2)) introduces external complexity not contained in the declaration itself."],"plain_english_summary":"What this instrument does (mechanically):\n\n- This is a formal declaration made under subsection 34(1) of the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979. It declares the New South Wales Police Force to be an \"agency\" for the purposes of that Act.\n\nWhy the declaration was made (officially stated):\n\n- The acting Premier of New South Wales requested the declaration (as recorded in the text).\n- The Attorney-General states he is satisfied that: (a) New South Wales law makes the satisfactory provision referred to in subsection 35(1) of the Act, and (b) the State of New South Wales has entered into the agreement required by subsection 35(2). The declaration is dated 23 January 1989 and is signed by the Attorney-General (LIONEL BOWEN).\n\nWho decides and who acts:\n\n- The request to make this declaration came from the acting Premier of New South Wales.\n- The Attorney‑General of the Commonwealth exercises the declaratory power under subsection 34(1) to make the declaration.\n\nImmediate legal effect (as stated in the text):\n\n- The New South Wales Police Force is declared an \"agency\" under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979. The text does not itself list the specific operational powers or procedures that flow from that status; it records only the declaration and the Attorney‑General's stated satisfactions under subsections 35(1) and 35(2).\n\nPractical implications and programmatic trade-offs (derived from the instrument's mechanics):\n\n- Compliance and administrative obligations: By becoming an agency under the Act, the New South Wales Police Force will fall within the Act's regime and therefore will need to meet any procedural, record‑keeping or training requirements imposed by the Act and by the State agreement referenced (the declaration records the Attorney‑General's satisfaction that those legal and contractual arrangements exist: subsections 35(1) and 35(2)). The declaration itself does not specify funding or administrative detail.\n\n- Who pays: The instrument does not specify funding. The text implies that the State of New South Wales and the declared agency have undertaken the legal and contractual arrangements required by the Act (per the Attorney‑General's statements), so the practical costs of compliance are likely borne by the State and the agency, though the declaration does not allocate or describe funding.\n\n- Decision‑making and discretion: The declaration shows a two‑step intergovernmental decision path — a State request (acting Premier) and a Commonwealth declaratory decision (Attorney‑General under s.34(1)). The Attorney‑General's power to be \"satisfied\" under subsections 35(1) and 35(2) is an example of administrative discretion recorded in the text.\n\n- Effects on private parties and markets: The declaration itself does not set out new powers affecting businesses or individuals; it places the New South Wales Police Force within the statutory regime of the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979. To determine concrete effects on private enterprise, prices, contract freedom, speech or individual choice, one must read the substantive provisions of the Act that apply to an \"agency.\" The declaration does not describe those provisions.\n\nRisks, trade‑offs and implementation notes (source‑grounded):\n\n- The declaration depends on the Attorney‑General's satisfactions under subsections 35(1) and 35(2); where those satisfactions are required by law, they shift the legal condition for inclusion of a State agency onto proof of adequate State law and the existence of an agreement. This creates dependency on intergovernmental arrangements and the State's legal framework as prerequisites for the declaration.\n\n- The instrument does not itself create operational detail (such as who within the agency is authorised to act, budgeting, or oversight arrangements); those details, and any costs they create, are left to the Act and the State agreement referred to in subsections 35(1) and 35(2).\n\nKey textual citations: declaration made under subsection 34(1); Attorney‑General records satisfaction as to matters in subsection 35(1) and existence of the agreement required by subsection 35(2)."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a single administrative declaration made under the Act, not an amendment to the Act itself. It performs exactly the function intended by the original 1979 legislation: authorising specific state agencies to access federal telecommunications interception powers once procedural and safeguards requirements are met. The scope remains precisely as originally designed."},"complexity_factors":["Very short document (under 200 words)","No defined terms within the document itself (relies entirely on external Act)","Simple conditional structure: three 'whereas' clauses establishing preconditions, followed by a single operative declaration","No cross-referencing within the document (though it references external sections 34(1), 35(1) and 35(2) of the parent Act)","No exceptions, nested or otherwise","Standard pro forma declaration format — essentially a template with blanks filled in"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this document does:**\n\nThis is a formal declaration made by the Commonwealth Attorney-General in 1989 that **authorises the New South Wales Police Force to use phone-tapping and other surveillance powers** under federal telecommunications interception laws.\n\n**Key points:**\n\n- **The law involved:** The *Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979* is the federal law that governs when and how Australian agencies can secretly listen to phone calls, read messages, or access other telecommunications data.\n\n- **What 'declaring an agency' means:** Before a police force or other body can use these surveillance powers, they must be officially \"declared\" as an \"agency\" under the Act. This declaration gives them the legal green light to apply for warrants to intercept communications.\n\n- **The conditions met:** The Attorney-General was satisfied that:\n  - The NSW Premier requested this\n  - NSW state law had adequate safeguards (relating to how warrants are issued, who can access intercepted info, and how it's stored/destroyed)\n  - NSW had signed an agreement with the Commonwealth about how these powers would be used\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Directly:** NSW Police Force — they gained federal authority to intercept telecommunications\n- **Indirectly:** Anyone in NSW whose communications might be subject to lawful interception by police\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis declaration is a crucial gatekeeping mechanism. It ensures that state police forces can't just start tapping phones on their own — they need both state *and* federal authorisation, with oversight agreements in place. It reflects the cooperative federalism approach to law enforcement in Australia, where telecommunications (a federal responsibility) intersects with policing (primarily a state responsibility)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force","history":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force/history","analysis":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-act-1979-declaration-of-agency-new-south-wales-police-force/documents"}}