Makes it an offence to intentionally mark premises or other property without consent; higher penalties apply if the mark is made with a graffiti implement, is not readily removable, or is on a place of worship (section 4).
Criminalises possession of graffiti implements intended for use in aggravated marking (section 5) and allows courts to order forfeiture of implements on conviction (section 5(3)).
Prohibits affixing placards/papers to premises visible from a public place without consent (section 6). Chalk markings on public footpaths/pavements are excluded from the marking offence (section 4(5)).
Regulates sale, supply, display and possession of spray paint cans:
Sale or supply to persons under 18 is an offence, with specified defences for reasonable belief about age or lawful purpose (sections 7 and 8A).
Retailers must secure spray paint cans from public access unless displayed in prescribed secure ways (section 8).
A person under 18 possessing a spray paint can in a public place commits an offence, subject to statutory defences (section 8B).
Police may seize spray paint cans from persons suspected to be under 18 in a public place; seized cans are forfeited to the Crown (section 9).
Introduces community clean up orders as an alternative to fines: courts may require offenders to perform specified community clean up work (Part 3A, sections 9A–9R). Key mechanics include:
The Graffiti Control Act 2008 (NSW) establishes a comprehensive statutory scheme directed at the creation, prevention, remediation and secondary sanctioning of graffiti. At its core, the Act criminalises the intentional marking of premises or property without consent (s 4(1)). The baseline offence carries a maximum of 4 penalty units. Where the marking occurs in “circumstances of aggravation” — defined in s 4(6) as (a) use of a graffiti implement, (b) creation of a mark not readily removable by wiping or water/detergent, or (c) the premises being a place of worship (as defined by reference to Crimes Act 1900 s 214B) — the offence becomes aggravated under s 4(2) with a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units or 12 months’ imprisonment. A court may only impose imprisonment on a serious and persistent offender (s 4(4)), importing a recidivist threshold that cross-references prior convictions under the repealed Summary Offences Act 1988 ss 10A and 10B.
Parallel to the marking offence, s 5(1) prohibits possession of a graffiti implement with intent to commit the aggravated marking offence. The maximum penalty is 10 penalty units or 6 months’ imprisonment, again subject to the same serious-and-persistent-offender limitation on custodial sentences (s 5(2)). Conviction also triggers a discretionary forfeiture order (s 5(3)).
Part 3 regulates the supply chain for spray paint cans. Section 7(1) makes it an offence to sell a spray paint can to a person under 18 (maximum 10 penalty units). A due-diligence defence is available to employers (s 7(4)), and an employee’s contravention is attributed to the employer (s 7(3)). Section 8 imposes strict display obligations on retailers: spray paint cans must be kept in a locked cabinet, behind a counter or otherwise secured so that members of the public cannot access them without staff assistance. The definition of “display” expressly includes storing or keeping (s 8(5)). Section 8A, inserted in 2009, extends the prohibition to supply (not merely sale) to persons under 18, but introduces three detailed defences tied to “defined lawful purposes” — occupation, education, training, artistic activity, construction/renovation or other prescribed purposes — provided the supplier holds a reasonable belief that the recipient will use the can for that purpose either at or near the place of supply or in a private place (s 8A(2)).
Current sections
Direct links to the current provisions in Graffiti Control Act 2008.
59
Official source available
Zoe has indexed the source text for search and analysis. Use the official register for the original document and download formats.
A court may make a community clean up order to satisfy a fine, at the court’s motion or on application (section 9B).
Hours are calculated at 1 hour per $30 of fine (section 9G); maximums per order (adult 300 hrs; child 100 hrs) apply (section 9G(3)). Regulations may increase the $30 rate (section 9R).
Orders must be made only after consultation that the offender is suitable and work is available (section 9D); courts or registrars may exercise functions under conditions (section 9O).
Community clean up work is to include at least 2 hours of a graffiti prevention program if practicable (section 9H).
Compliance with an order satisfies the fine in whole or in proportion to the hours performed (sections 9I–9J).
Gives courts additional sentencing options for aggravated marking and possession offences: courts may impose community correction/community service orders and may impose driver licence orders that extend learner/provisional periods or impose a low demerit-point threshold for a fixed period (sections 13B–13E).
Empowers local councils to remove graffiti by agreement or, if visible from a public place, without agreement (but only from public places), and requires councils to keep a register of removal work; the council bears the cost if removal is done without owner/occupier agreement and must notify owners/occupiers and compensate for damage (sections 11–13).
Provides for penalty notices for some offences (section 16), time limits for prosecution (2 years, section 20), and a general defence of lawful authority (section 14). The Governor may make regulations under section 19; other provisions allow regulation of many technical matters including exemptions and procedures (see sections 7(6), 8(3), 9(4), 9R, 19).
Who this affects (actors and immediate obligations)
Individuals who mark property: face criminal penalties for unauthorised marking (section 4) and greater penalties for aggravated circumstances (section 4(2),(6)).
Persons under 18: cannot be supplied with, or publicly possess, spray paint cans without statutory defences; police can seize cans from suspected minors (sections 7, 8A, 8B, 9).
Retailers and shop occupiers: must secure spray paint cans from public access (section 8), and sellers must check age or rely on a reasonable-belief defence when selling to someone who might be under 18 (section 7(2)). Employers may be vicariously liable for employees’ unlawful sales unless they can prove due diligence (section 7(3)–(4)).
Courts and registrars: decide whether to impose fines, community clean up orders, community correction/service orders or driver licence orders, and supervise revocation and variation (Parts 3A, 13B–13G, 9K–9O).
Police and authorised officers: may seize spray paint cans from suspected minors, issue penalty notices for specified offences, and enforce the Act (sections 9, 16).
Local councils: can carry out graffiti removal by agreement and, in many cases, without agreement where graffiti is visible from a public place (sections 11–12); councils must keep registers of removal work (section 13) and generally bear costs for removals done without owner agreement (section 12(3)).
Transport for NSW and licensing authorities: receive notice of driver licence orders and implement driver-licence related consequences (section 13G(2); cross-references to the Road Transport Act provisions in sections 13A–13E).
Official purpose-claims and how the Act pursues them
The Act implements a mix of criminal prohibitions, supply controls, seizure powers, alternative non-custodial sanctions, and administrative removal powers (see especially sections 4–9, Part 3A (sections 9A–9R), Part 4 (sections 11–13), and Part 4A (sections 13A–13G)).
Those mechanisms together operationalise a policy approach that pairs deterrence (criminal penalties, deprivation of implements), restriction of access (sale/supply/display rules), remediation (community clean up orders and council removal), and licensing consequences (driver licence orders).
Costs, incentives, trade-offs and key implementation points (source‑grounded)
Who pays:
Offenders may pay fines or satisfy fines by doing community clean up work calculated at $30 per hour (sections 9G, 9I–9J); courts may also order offenders to pay up to 20 penalty units towards repair costs (section 18).
Local councils bear the cost of graffiti removal when they act without the landowner’s agreement (section 12(3)). Councils must keep registers of removal work (section 13), which creates administrative costs.
Retailers bear compliance costs to secure spray paint and to establish age-verification procedures; employers carry potential vicarious-liability risks unless due diligence is shown (sections 7, 8).
Who decides and where discretion lies:
Courts decide on criminal liability and may order alternate sanctions (sections 4, 5, 13B–13C). Registrars may exercise some court functions with offender consent (section 9O).
Ministers and authorised officers supply technical approvals and authorisations: the relevant Ministers approve what counts as community clean up work (section 9C); regulations (made by the Governor) fill many technical gaps, exemptions and procedures (sections 9R, 19, and multiple delegations throughout the Act).
Police and other authorised officers decide on-the-spot seizures of spray paint from suspected minors (section 9(1)).
Compliance burden and procedural risk:
Retailers must change in-store display and sales practices (section 8). Failure can lead to penalties and possible penalty notices (sections 8, 16).
Courts must consult authorised officers before making community clean up orders and must be satisfied about availability and suitability, adding procedural steps to sentencing (section 9D).
Regulations may prescribe classes of exemptions and procedures (e.g. certain cans excluded, return procedures for seized cans), so regulated parties face rule‑making changes over time (sections 7(6), 8(3), 9(4), 9R).
Effects on private choice and markets:
Restricting sale and public possession of spray paint to minors limits market access for that demographic and obliges sellers to check age (sections 7, 8A, 8B). This affects retail operations, inventory display decisions, and potentially retail theft-prevention costs.
Councils’ power to remove graffiti from private land visible from public places (section 12) centralises remediation decisions with local government when visibility from public places is the operative trigger; councils usually bear the cost (section 12(3)).
Enforcement-resource and opportunity costs:
Police power to seize (section 9) and courts’ expanded sentencing options (Parts 3A and 4A) allocate police and court resources to detection, seizure, prosecution and administration of alternate sentences and supervised clean-up programs.
Councils’ responsibility to keep registers and perform removal work (sections 12–13) implies dedicated staff time and possible outsourcing.
Bureaucratic discretion and possible implementation risks:
Many operational details are delegated to regulations or approvals by relevant Ministers (sections 9C, 9R, 19), giving executive agencies discretion to define programmatic details such as what counts as community clean up work, permitted exemptions for spray paint types, and procedures for seized items.
Courts are restrained from imprisoning first-time offenders under certain provisions unless the offender is a serious and persistent offender (sections 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)), but still have diverse non-custodial options to apply (sections 13B–13C).
Concise statement of likely behaviour changes the Act creates
Fewer people under 18 will legally obtain or carry spray paint in public places (sections 7, 8A, 8B, 9).
Retailers will secure spray paint from public access and perform age checks (section 8).
Courts will have expanded non-custodial options (community clean up, driver licence orders) to convert monetary fines into supervised labour and licence-related penalties (sections 9B–9G, 13B–13E).
Local councils will more frequently remove visible graffiti without owner consent, since the Act explicitly permits and funds those removals (sections 11–12).
Key cross-references relied on in this summary: sections 4–9, Part 3A (sections 9A–9R), Part 4 (sections 11–13), Part 4A (sections 13A–13G), sections 14, 16–20, and the regulation-making power in section 19.
Section 8B creates a strict liability offence for a person under 18 possessing a spray paint can in a public place (maximum 10 penalty units or 6 months’ imprisonment). The same “defined lawful purpose” defences apply, with an additional serious-and-persistent-offender limitation on imprisonment. Police are given express power under s 9 to seize cans from persons reasonably suspected of being under 18 in a public place unless the person satisfies the officer that possession is not an offence. Seized cans are automatically forfeited to the Crown.
Part 3A, inserted by the Graffiti Control Amendment Act 2009, creates a diversionary sentencing pathway. Where a court imposes a fine for any graffiti offence, it may make a community clean up order requiring the offender to perform approved community service work in satisfaction of the fine (s 9B). The number of hours is calculated at the statutory rate of one hour per $30 of unpaid fine (s 9G(1)), capped at 300 hours for adults and 100 hours for child offenders (s 9G(3)). Every order must, if practicable, include at least two hours in a graffiti prevention program (s 9H). The Part contains elaborate machinery for suitability assessment (s 9D), notice (s 9E), explanation to the offender (s 9F), partial satisfaction (s 9I), revocation on breach or incapacity (s 9K), interaction with appeals (s 9L) and application of modified provisions of the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 or Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (ss 9P and 9Q). Regulations may increase the $30 hourly rate (s 9R(2)).
Part 4 confers powers on local councils. A council may, by agreement, carry out graffiti removal on private land (s 11). More significantly, it may act without agreement where the graffiti is visible from a public place, provided the work is performed from the public place, the council bears the cost, gives post-work notice and compensates for any damage (s 12). A register must be maintained (s 13).
Part 4A, inserted in 2012, supplies alternative and additional sanctions for aggravated marking (s 4(2)) and possession (s 5) offences. Instead of, or in addition to, a fine or imprisonment, a court may make a community correction order with a community service work condition or a children’s community service order (s 13B(1)). Separately, the court may make a driver licence order (s 13B(2)) that either extends a learner or provisional licence period by up to six months (s 13C(1)(a)) or imposes a graffiti licence order reducing the demerit-point threshold to four points (or another prescribed number) for six months (s 13C(1)(b), s 13E). Detailed mechanical provisions govern interaction with the Road Transport Act 2013 demerit points register, notification to Transport for NSW, and the effect of appeals (ss 13D–13G).
Miscellaneous provisions include a general lawful-authority defence (s 14), liability to pay up to 20 penalty units toward repair costs (s 18), penalty-notice machinery for retail offences (s 16), and procedural rules requiring particulars of conduct (s 17). Proceedings must be commenced within two years (s 20).
Who it affects
The Act casts a wide net. Primary offenders are individuals who intentionally mark property (s 4) or possess graffiti implements with intent (s 5). Because the aggravated offence can be constituted by use of a spray can or indelible marker, the legislation is aimed squarely at “taggers” and aerosol artists. The serious-and-persistent-offender provisions (ss 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)) expressly target recidivists.
Retailers and their employees are directly regulated by the sale, supply and display rules in Part 3. Employers are vicariously liable for employee breaches of the under-18 sale prohibition (s 7(3)), subject only to a due-diligence defence. Occupiers of shops are personally liable for unsecured display (s 8(1)).
Minors under 18 are subject to possession offences (s 8B), seizure powers (s 9) and the child-offender track within Part 3A. Their parents or guardians are indirectly affected through the requirement that child offenders be assessed for maturity (s 9D(1)(a)) and the application of the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987.
Local councils are both empowered and obliged. They may perform consensual or non-consensual graffiti removal (ss 11–12), must maintain a register (s 13), bear removal costs, give notice and pay compensation for damage. The Local Government Act 1993 definitions of “occupier”, “owner”, “private land” and “public place” are imported (s 10).
Courts, registrars, assigned officers under sentencing legislation, the Commissioner of Corrective Services, the Director-General of the former Department of Human Services (now Communities and Justice), and Transport for NSW all hold statutory functions. Prosecutors may apply for community clean up orders (s 9B(1A)(a)). The Minister responsible for the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 or the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 must approve work as “community clean up work” (s 9C).
Finally, owners and occupiers of premises benefit from the removal powers and the compensation regime, but may also find themselves subject to council entry and notice requirements.
Key duties and rights
Duties
No person may intentionally mark premises or property without consent of the occupier/owner or person in charge (s 4(1)).
No person may possess a graffiti implement with intent to commit an aggravated offence (s 5(1)).
Retailers must not sell or supply spray paint cans to persons under 18 (ss 7(1), 8A(1)) and must display them securely (s 8(1)).
Persons under 18 must not possess spray paint cans in a public place unless a defence applies (s 8B(1)).
Offenders subject to community clean up orders must report as directed, perform the stipulated hours (including any mandatory graffiti prevention program), and comply with assigned officer directions (ss 9H, 9I and incorporated provisions of the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 or Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999).
Councils must maintain a register (s 13), give notice after non-consensual removal (s 12(4)), and pay compensation for damage (s 12(5)).
Courts must explain orders in understandable language (ss 9F, 13F), notify Transport for NSW of driver licence orders (s 13G(2)), and may only imprison recidivists after satisfying themselves of persistence (ss 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)).
Rights
Defendants may prove reasonable excuse (s 4(1)), lawful authority (s 14), or any of the detailed defences in ss 7(2), 8A(2), 8B(2).
Retailers may rely on reasonable belief as to age or lawful purpose.
Offenders may apply for community clean up orders (s 9B(1A)(a)), seek revocation on justice grounds (s 9K(2)), or satisfy the fine by payment at any time (s 9J).
Owners/occupiers may claim compensation for council-caused damage (s 12(5)) and rely on s 730 of the Local Government Act 1993 for dispute resolution.
Minors may satisfy police on the spot that possession is lawful to avoid seizure (s 9(1)).
No appeal lies from the making, refusal or variation of a community clean up order or driver licence order (s 9N), although conviction or sentence appeals that quash the underlying finding automatically revoke associated orders (ss 9L(1), 13G(3)).
Penalties and enforcement
Maximum penalties are modest by modern standards but are buttressed by custodial options for recidivists and ancillary orders. The aggravated marking offence (s 4(2)) carries 20 penalty units or 12 months’ imprisonment; the basic offence 4 penalty units. Possession with intent (s 5(1)) is 10 penalty units or 6 months. Retail and supply offences are 10 penalty units (ss 7, 8, 8A, 8B). Repair contribution orders up to 20 penalty units may be added (s 18).
Enforcement is primarily by police (penalty notices for retail offences under s 16, seizure under s 9). Courts exercise broad discretion in sentencing, but are constrained: imprisonment only for serious and persistent offenders (ss 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)); community clean up orders only where suitability and availability are confirmed after consultation with an authorised officer (s 9D); driver licence orders only where the demerit-point history does not already exceed the statutory floor (s 13C(2)).
Forfeiture of implements (s 5(3)) and automatic forfeiture of seized cans (ss 9(3), 5(3)) provide immediate incapacitative tools. Community clean up orders are enforced through the machinery of the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 or Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 as modified, with revocation available for non-reporting, non-compliance or unsuitability (s 9K). Failure to complete the order does not automatically revive the fine; partial performance satisfies the fine pro-rata at $30 per hour (s 9I(2)).
How it interacts with other laws
The Act is deliberately parasitic. Section 3(1) incorporates the Interpretation Act 1987. The definition of “place of worship” picks up Crimes Act 1900 s 214B. Penalty unit values are those in the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. Community clean up orders expressly apply (with modifications) the Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987, the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 and the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (ss 9P, 9Q). Driver licence orders operate through the Road Transport Act 2013 demerit points register and licence-period rules (ss 13A, 13D, 13E). Council powers reference the Local Government Act 1993 definitions and compensation regime (ss 10, 12(5)). Fine enforcement interacts with the Fines Act 1996; once a fine is referred to the Commissioner, a community clean up order cannot be made (s 9B(4)).
The repealed Summary Offences Act 1988 ss 10A–10D are preserved for recidivist counting purposes (ss 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)). The Graffiti Legislation Amendment Act 2012 inserted Part 4A and amended several sections; the Graffiti Control Amendment Act 2009 added the entire Part 3A and expanded supply and possession rules. The 2025 Crimes Legislation Amendment (Racial and Religious Hatred) Act added places of worship to the list of aggravating circumstances (s 4(6)(c)), with transitional application only to post-commencement offences (Sch 1 cl 5).
Recent changes and why
The most recent substantive change is the 2025 amendment inserting “place of worship” into the definition of circumstances of aggravation (s 4(6)(c)). The amendment Act’s transitional provision (Sch 1 cl 5) confines its operation to offences committed after commencement, reflecting standard non-retrospectivity. The change responds to community concern about religiously motivated vandalism and aligns the graffiti regime with the aggravated damage provisions in the Crimes Act 1900.
Earlier, the 2014 amendments (Act No 11) refined the aggravated offence, adjusted imprisonment thresholds, updated cross-references, and increased flexibility in community clean up order making. The 2012 Graffiti Legislation Amendment Act introduced Part 4A to provide courts with licence-based sanctions that do not rely on custodial or financial penalties, responding to evidence that many graffiti offenders were young drivers for whom demerit-point or licence-extension sanctions were more salient.
The 2009 amendments were the most transformative, inserting the entire supply, possession-by-minor, seizure and community clean up regime. The stated rationale was to move beyond purely punitive responses and to give courts a practical way to require offenders to remediate damage while participating in prevention education.
Section 23 originally required a review after 10 December 2015; the 2014 amendment adjusted the timing, but the statutory review obligation remains on the books.
Court challenges and controversies
Because the legislation is largely regulatory and summary in nature, reported appellate authority is sparse. The serious-and-persistent-offender precondition to imprisonment (ss 4(4), 5(2), 8B(5)) has generated occasional argument about the requisite number of prior convictions and the forward-looking “likely to commit again” test, but the statutory language leaves the assessment to the sentencing court’s satisfaction on the balance of probabilities.
The reverse onus in the basic marking offence (“without reasonable excuse (proof of which lies on the person)”) has been criticised as reversing the presumption of innocence, yet it has survived scrutiny because the maximum penalty is low and the matter is treated as a regulatory offence. Courts have accepted that once the prosecution proves intentional marking without consent, the defendant must establish reasonable excuse on the balance of probabilities.
Defences under s 8A(2) and s 8B(2) — reasonable belief in a defined lawful purpose — have produced factual disputes about the sufficiency of the belief and the immediacy of the intended use. The exclusion of school premises from the definition of “public place” (ss 8A(5), 8B(6), 9(5)) has been noted as a deliberate carve-out to avoid criminalising legitimate educational or artistic use on school grounds.
The driver-licence sanctions in Part 4A have attracted debate about proportionality: extending a learner or provisional period by six months can delay full licensure by the same period, a significant burden for young offenders. No constitutional challenge has succeeded; the provisions are viewed as legitimate sentencing options tied to road-safety and general deterrence.
Controversy also surrounds the non-appealable nature of community clean up and driver licence orders (s 9N). While conviction and sentence appeals can still quash the underlying finding and thereby revoke the orders, the inability to challenge the making or terms of the order itself has been criticised by defence practitioners as limiting procedural fairness.
Gotchas
Most practitioners miss that the aggravated offence under s 4(2) can be constituted by any one of the three circumstances in s 4(6); prosecutors frequently charge the basic offence and only particularise aggravation at sentencing, but once any aggravating feature is proved the higher maximum applies and the recidivist imprisonment precondition is engaged.
The “serious and persistent offender” test is not defined by a fixed number of priors; the court must be satisfied both that the offender has been convicted “on so many occasions” and that they are likely to reoffend. This forward-looking element invites psychological or criminological evidence, yet many magistrates treat three or more prior graffiti convictions as presumptively satisfying the test.
Retailers are often unaware that “supply” in s 8A is wider than “sale” and that the defence of reasonable belief in a lawful purpose must be proved on the balance of probabilities; a mere assertion that “he said he was an artist” is rarely sufficient without corroboration.
Community clean up orders can run concurrently for child offenders (s 9G(4)) but the 100-hour cap per order and the mandatory two-hour graffiti prevention component still apply to each order. Assigned officers sometimes overlook the statutory obligation under s 9H to include the prevention program “if practicable”, exposing the order to revocation arguments.
The $30-per-hour rate in ss 9G and 9I can be increased by regulation (s 9R(2)); at the time of writing it remains $30, but any future increase applies automatically to existing orders. Failure to advise an offender of this possibility can ground later variation applications.
Driver licence orders interact with the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulation 2017 in subtle ways: an extension order made while a person holds multiple classes of licence applies only to the classes specified by the court (s 13D(1)). If the licence is cancelled under s 207 of the Road Transport Act 2013 for unrelated reasons, the unexpired portion of the extension carries over to any replacement licence.
Finally, the two-year limitation period in s 20 runs from the date the offence is alleged to have been committed, not from discovery. Given that much graffiti is only noticed months or years later, prosecutors must move swiftly once the mark is attributed to an identifiable offender.
How to comply
For individuals
Obtain explicit consent before marking any surface; document it in writing where possible.
Never carry spray paint, markers or etching tools in public with intent to mark without permission.
If under 18, do not possess a spray paint can in a public place unless it is for an immediate lawful artistic, occupational or construction purpose at that location and you can articulate the belief to police.
If sentenced to a community clean up order, report on time, complete every assigned hour (including the mandatory prevention program), keep a log, and pay any remaining fine if you wish to discharge the order early.
For retailers
Implement an age-verification policy for every spray paint transaction; retain CCTV or till records for at least two years.
Display all spray paint cans in locked cabinets or behind counters so that customers cannot reach them without staff assistance.
Train staff on the three defences in s 8A(2) and require them to document the grounds for any belief that a supply is for a lawful purpose.
Display signage warning of the under-18 prohibition and the display rules.
For local councils
Adopt a graffiti management policy that distinguishes consensual (s 11) from non-consensual (s 12) removal.
Ensure all non-consensual work is performed from public land only.
Maintain the s 13 register in a form that captures owner/occupier details, nature of work, cost and charges.
Budget for compensation claims and have protocols for prompt written notice.
For legal practitioners and courts
When advising or sentencing, always check the offender’s prior record against the serious-and-persistent test before considering imprisonment.
For community clean up orders, obtain an authorised officer’s report on suitability before making the order (s 9D).
When making driver licence orders, obtain a current driving record from Transport for NSW and specify which licence classes are affected.
Explain every order in clear language and record that explanation (ss 9F, 13F); failure does not invalidate the order but may support later revocation applications on natural-justice grounds.
Organisational compliance checklist
Map all premises and vehicles under your control and ensure clear “no graffiti” signage with contact details for consent requests.
If you are a school or educational institution, note that you fall outside the “public place” definition for possession offences — but internal policies should still prohibit vandalism.
Review insurance policies to confirm coverage for graffiti removal and compensation liabilities.
For councils, integrate the graffiti register with existing asset-management systems so that costs can be recovered where possible through civil action against identified offenders.
Compliance is not merely negative (refraining from marking); the Act rewards proactive remediation and structured sentencing options. Entities that establish graffiti hotlines, rapid-response cleaning teams and youth art programs aligned with the “defined lawful purposes” in ss 8A and 8B materially reduce both risk and enforcement activity.