{"id":"F2007L03549","name":"Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Staff Members of NSW Police Force) Declaration 2007","slug":"telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":69809,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2007L03549-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Telecommunications (Interception and Access) (Staff Members of NSW Police Force) Declaration 2007","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![](image.001.png)\n\nTelecommunications (Interception and Access) (Staff Members of NSW Police Force) Declaration 2007\n\nTelecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979\n\nI, PHILIP MAXWELL RUDDOCK, Attorney-General, acting under section 6N of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, declare that unsworn members of the New South Wales Police Force attached to the Telecommunications Interception Branch or unsworn staff participating in a high priority investigation requiring interception occupy positions corresponding to those of Australian Federal Police employees who are not members of the Australian Federal Police.\n\nDated                              28 August  2007\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nPHILIP RUDDOCK\n\nAttorney-General\n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The declaration does not itself change the substantive provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. It performs a classificatory function: it designates certain NSW unsworn staff as corresponding to a specified class of AFP employees for the purposes of the Act. Any change in practical scope or effect depends on how the TI Act’s existing provisions operate once applied to that declared group; those substantive effects are not altered or detailed in this declaration."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose instrument limited to a statutory classification rather than detailed rules","Cross-references the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (section 6N) — understanding full effect requires reading that Act","No operational, funding, oversight, or procedural details included in the text","Relies on administrative discretion (Attorney‑General declaration) which may require consultation with other agencies","Narrow affected population but potentially wide downstream effects depending on how the TI Act applies"],"plain_english_summary":"### What this declaration does\n\nThis is a short legal declaration dated 28 August 2007, signed by the Attorney‑General (Philip Ruddock) under section 6N of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. It states that certain unsworn personnel of the New South Wales Police Force are to be treated, for the purposes of that Act, as holding positions that correspond to positions occupied by employees of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) who are not members of the AFP.\n\n### Who it affects\n\n- The primary subjects are unsworn members of the NSW Police Force attached to the Telecommunications Interception Branch, and unsworn staff participating in a high priority investigation requiring interception (as described in the text).  \n- The declaration links those NSW Police staff to the legal category of \"AFP employees who are not members of the AFP\" for the purposes of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the TI Act). (The declaration is made under s 6N of that Act.)\n\n### How it works, mechanically\n\n- The Attorney‑General uses a power in s 6N of the TI Act to make a formal declaration. The declaration does not itself set out new powers or operational procedures; rather, it changes how the Act’s existing provisions apply by treating the named NSW staff as corresponding to a particular class of AFP employees.  \n- In practice, this means any rights, obligations, permissions or administrative arrangements in the TI Act that apply to \"AFP employees who are not members of the AFP\" will, as a matter of statutory classification, also apply to the declared NSW unsworn staff. The specific legal consequences depend on the substantive provisions of the TI Act that refer to that AFP category (those provisions are not reproduced in this document).\n\n### Who decides and who pays\n\n- The decision to make this classification is taken by the Attorney‑General under the statutory power in s 6N (explicitly stated in the declaration).  \n- The declaration does not specify funding, fees, salaries, or who bears any costs of implementation (training, oversight, equipment). Those budgetary and administrative matters are not addressed in the text.\n\n### Incentives, trade‑offs and operational effects (source‑grounded)\n\n- Incentive/behaviour change: By placing these NSW unsworn staff into the same statutory category as certain AFP employees, the declaration enables (subject to the TI Act’s substantive rules) those staff to be treated equivalently for interception‑related functions. The declaration itself does not describe operational details such as scope of tasks, authorisations required, oversight mechanisms, or training standards.  \n- Trade‑offs and opportunity costs: The declaration is narrow and technical; its tangible costs, administrative burdens, or savings are not specified here. Any changes to workload, oversight requirements, or administrative support will arise from applying the TI Act’s existing provisions to the newly declared group.  \n- Compliance burden and discretion: The declaration exercises statutory discretion (the Attorney‑General’s power under s 6N). It does not set compliance procedures or supervisory arrangements; those will follow from the TI Act and from administrative arrangements within the NSW Police or federal agencies.\n\n### Concentration of benefits and risks\n\n- Concentrated benefits: The direct, identifiable beneficiaries are the named unsworn NSW staff and the units that deploy them, because they are given a statutory classification that aligns them with a particular federal employment category for the TI Act’s purposes.  \n- Diffuse costs/risks: Any costs or risks (for example, additional oversight needs, training, or coordination with federal interception regimes) are not described in the declaration. The document does not record monitoring, reporting or funding arrangements to manage those risks.\n\n### Implementation and information gaps\n\n- The declaration is a statutory classification; to understand full legal and operational consequences one must read the TI Act provisions that apply to the AFP category referenced. The declaration itself does not alter the text of the TI Act, nor does it detail procedural, fiscal or oversight arrangements.\n\n(Declared under s 6N of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979; dated 28 August 2007; signed by the Attorney‑General.)"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a straightforward declaration made under a specific provision (section 6N) of the parent Act. It performs exactly the function intended by that provision: equating specified state/territory staff with federal counterparts for interception purposes. There is no scope creep or expansion beyond the original statutory intent."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative paragraph with no defined terms","No cross-references to other sections beyond the enabling provision (section 6N)","No conditional logic, exceptions, or procedural requirements","Extremely short instrument (under 150 words of substantive content)","Simple binary declaration: specified NSW staff = AFP civilian staff for legal purposes"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short legal declaration made by the Attorney-General in 2007. It gives certain civilian (unsworn) staff members of the New South Wales Police Force the same legal status as Australian Federal Police civilian employees when it comes to accessing intercepted telecommunications.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Unsworn members** of NSW Police attached to the **Telecommunications Interception Branch** — these are civilian staff, not sworn police officers\n- **Unsworn staff** participating in **high priority investigations** that require phone or internet interception\n\n**What it does:**\nNormally, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 sets out who can handle intercepted communications. This declaration says that specific civilian NSW Police staff are treated the same as civilian Australian Federal Police staff for the purposes of this law. This matters because it lets these NSW civilian employees legally access and handle intercepted phone calls, emails, and other communications during investigations, even though they aren't sworn police officers.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nWithout this declaration, only sworn police officers or specific federal employees could legally access intercepted communications. This lets NSW Police use specialist civilian staff (like analysts or technical experts) for complex telecommunications investigations, particularly urgent or high-priority cases, without breaking federal surveillance laws."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007","history":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007/history","analysis":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/telecommunications-interception-and-access-staff-members-of-nsw-police-force-declaration-2007/documents"}}