Security and Investigations Agents Regulations 2025

Several key concepts underpin the regulations. The first is the infringement offence regime. An infringement offence is a contravention of a provision of the Act that can be dealt with by way of an infringement notice (essentially an on-the-spot fine) rather than by prosecution in court, although the recipient may still elect to have the matter heard by a court. Regulation 4 and Schedule 1 specify which sections of the Act are infringement offences. For each such section, a penalty is prescribed in penalty units. The value of a penalty unit is not stated in these regulations; it is set by general legislation (such as the Legislation Act 2001 or the Criminal Code of the relevant jurisdiction). The regulations use two tiers of penalty: a higher amount for a body corporate and a lower amount for a natural person. For example, item 1 (section 4(1)) prescribes 10 penalty units for a body corporate and 5 penalty units for a natural person. Some offences, however, carry a single flat rate that applies to both entity types: items 2, 18, 19 and 20 each prescribe 5 penalty units without a split. The second key concept is the fee unit. Schedule 2 sets fees in fee units for various transactions under the Act. Again, the dollar value of a fee unit is not defined in the regulations; it is fixed by external legislation (commonly the relevant Fees Act or interpretation act). The fees vary considerably: the highest fee is for an application for an agent licence at 455 fee units, while an application for an employee licence costs 120 fee units. Amendment of a licence, a duplicate, and an exemption from wearing an identity card each cost 35 fee units. Inspection of the register of licences costs 11 fee units. Provision of a copy of the code of conduct (or part of it) costs 20 fee units. The regulations also implicitly incorporate the concept of the licensed entity: the Act distinguishes between agents and employees (licence categories) and between bodies corporate and natural persons (for penalty purposes). The regulations themselves do not define these terms; they rely on the Act for definitions. Finally, the concept of an infringement notice procedure is central - regulation 4 merely prescribes the offences and penalties; the procedural mechanics of issuing, serving, and challenging an infringement notice are found in other legislation (such as the Criminal Procedure Act or the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Act). A practitioner must therefore consult multiple instruments to understand the full enforcement scheme.

The regulations directly affect any person or entity who holds, applies for, or is subject to the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002. The primary groups are existing and prospective licensees under that Act. Under Schedule 2, persons applying for an agent licence must pay 455 fee units; those applying for an employee licence must pay 120 fee units. This includes natural persons and bodies corporate, as both can hold licences under the Act (the licence categories do not appear to be restricted by entity type). Existing licensees are affected by the fees for amending a licence (35 fee units), obtaining a duplicate licence or identity card (35 fee units), and applying for an exemption from the requirement to wear an identity card (35 fee units). Any person who wishes to inspect the register of licences must pay 11 fee units - this could include competitors, journalists, researchers, or members of the public. The regulations also affect any person or body corporate who commits one of the listed infringement offences. Schedule 1 covers approximately 27 separate offence provisions of the Act. The offences range from general licensing violations (sections 4, 13, 17, 21, 21A, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 27A, 27B, 27C, 27D, 31) to specific conduct such as failing to display a licence, providing false information, or operating without a licence. The higher penalty for bodies corporate (typically double the natural person penalty) means that companies and other incorporated entities face a greater financial exposure for the same contravention. The regulations affect enforcement authorities - presumably the Department of Justice, the police, or a licensing board - who will issue infringement notices using the prescribed penalty amounts. The Department of Justice is also the administrator and likely the recipient of the fees collected under Schedule 2. Finally, the regulations indirectly affect legal practitioners, accountants, and compliance professionals who advise clients in the security and investigation industry, as they must be aware of the prescribed amounts to advise on budgeting, risk exposure, and compliance obligations.

The regulations themselves do not impose duties or confer rights in the substantive sense; they instead define the monetary consequences attached to duties and rights that exist in the principal Act. However, by specifying infringement penalties and fees, the regulations create a clear financial framework that effectively shapes behaviour. The key duties referenced in Schedule 1 relate to compliance with sections of the Act. For example, section 4(1) of the Act (the content of which is not reproduced here) is a duty that, if breached, attracts an infringement penalty of 10 penalty units for a body corporate or 5 for a natural person. Similarly, duties under sections 13(2), 17(1) and (2), 21, 21A(1), 22(1) and (2), 24(2) and (3), 25, 26, 27(1), (2) and (5), 27A, 27B(2), 27C(1) and (3), 27D, 31(1), 35A, 35B(1), (2) and (3), and 35C(1) are all subject to infringement notice enforcement. The duties embedded in those sections likely cover matters such as holding a valid licence, displaying the licence or identity card, notifying the licensing authority of changes, not employing unlicensed persons, complying with codes of conduct, and not engaging in misleading conduct. The right to pay a lower penalty by way of infringement notice (rather than facing a court prosecution with potential higher penalties and a criminal record) is a significant right conferred by the regulations. The regulations also create rights to access certain administrative services upon payment of the prescribed fee: the right to apply for a licence, amend a licence, obtain a duplicate, inspect the register, apply for an exemption from wearing an identity card, and obtain a copy of the code of conduct. These are rights that the Act itself may grant, but the regulations make them exercisable only on payment of the fee. The fee schedule amounts are likely not negotiable; the applicant must pay the specified number of fee units. The regulations do not provide for fee waivers or reductions. The right to contest an infringement notice by electing to have the matter heard in court is implicit in the infringement notice regime, but the regulations do not set out the procedure; that is left to other legislation.

The regulations prescribe the monetary penalties for infringement offences but do not create the offences themselves nor set the enforcement machinery. The penalties are found in Schedule 1, expressed in penalty units. For each listed section of the Act, the schedule specifies a penalty amount. The highest penalties are 10 penalty units for a body corporate and 5 penalty units for a natural person, applicable to offences under sections 4(1), 13(2), 21A(1), 26, 27A, 27D, and 35B(1) and 35C(1). The lowest penalties are 2 penalty units for either body corporate or natural person, applicable to offences under sections 17(1) and (2), 21, 22(1) and (2), 24(2) and (3), 25, 27(1), 27(2), 27(5), 31(1), 35A, and 35B(2) and (3). Some offences have a flat rate of 5 penalty units with no body corporate/natural person distinction: sections 4(2), 27B(2), 27C(1), and 27C(3). This structure indicates that the legislature considers certain offences serious enough to warrant higher penalties (the 10/5 band) or to treat bodies corporate more severely, while other offences are seen as less serious (the 4/2 band) or as ones where entity type does not justify a differential. The penalty amounts are subject to the value of a penalty unit, which changes over time with indexation; using penalty units avoids the need to amend the regulations each time the dollar amount is updated. Enforcement of infringement notices is likely carried out by the Department of Justice or police officers. Upon issuance of an infringement notice, the recipient must pay the prescribed penalty within the statutory period (usually 28 or 14 days) or elect to have the matter dealt with by a court. If the penalty is paid, the matter is resolved without a criminal conviction (in many jurisdictions). If not paid and no election is made, the penalty may be enforced as a debt or through other enforcement mechanisms. The regulations do not specify the consequences of non-payment; those are dealt with in general enforcement legislation. The regulations also do not provide for a defence or grounds for withdrawal of an infringement notice; that is a matter for the Act or general law. Practitioners should note that the penalties in Schedule 1 are only for infringement notices - the Act may provide for higher maximum penalties on conviction after prosecution. The infringement notice is an alternative, not a ceiling.

These regulations sit as subordinate legislation under the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002. Their legal force derives from the Act, and they must be read in conjunction with it. The Act itself is not reproduced in these regulations; the reader must consult the Act to understand the substance of each offence listed in Schedule 1 and the conditions under which fees are payable. The regulations also interact with general legislation governing infringement notices. In most Australian jurisdictions, the procedure for issuing, serving, and contesting infringement notices is set out in a separate act such as the Infringements Act, the Criminal Procedure Act, or the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Act. The regulations merely prescribe which offences are infringement offences and at what penalty; they do not set out the procedural rules. Similarly, the value of a penalty unit is defined in an Interpretation Act or Legislation Act (for example, the Legislation Act 2001 in the Australian Capital Territory or the Acts Interpretation Act in other states). That external legislation also governs how fee units are converted into dollar amounts, usually by reference to a prescribed amount that may be indexed annually. The fee units in Schedule 2 are similarly dependent on the value of a fee unit as defined elsewhere. The regulations may also interact with the common law and with general licensing principles, such as natural justice in the revocation or refusal of licences, though the regulations do not address those matters. The administration of the regulations is performed by the Department of Justice, which may have its own internal policies and delegations. The regulations do not purport to interact with other specific statutes such as the Privacy Act or the Fair Work Act, but those may be relevant to the underlying conduct regulated by the principal Act. There is no express mention in these regulations of any interaction with the Criminal Code or with State or Territory offences. The infringement notice regime is an alternative to criminal prosecution, so the regulations implicitly interact with the criminal justice system. Practitioners must also be aware that the fees prescribed in Schedule 2 are payable exclusively in fee units; if a different statute sets the fee unit value for a different purpose, it may not apply to these regulations unless that statute is expressly referenced. The regulations are self-contained on the points they address, but a full understanding of their operation requires consulting multiple instruments.

The Security and Investigations Agents Regulations 2025 are a new instrument. They were made on 10 December 2025, notified in the Gazette on that date, and take effect on 23 December 2025. As at the date of the source text, no amending regulations had been made. The regulations appear to be the first set of regulations under this title for the year 2025, replacing or updating any earlier regulations that may have existed under the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002. The source text does not include a note indicating whether these regulations supersede previous regulations made earlier in 2025 or in prior years. The regulations are administered by the Department of Justice. Given the commencement date of 23 December 2025, the regulations have a very short lead time between notification and commencement (13 days). There is no transitional provision in the source text, which may be relevant if any applications or infringement notices were in process before the commencement date. The absence of amendment history means that the reader cannot infer any policy shifts or legislative responses to court decisions; the regulations are presented as a clean, initial instrument. Practitioners should monitor the Gazette and the official legislation register for any amending instruments that may adjust penalty amounts, add or remove infringement offences, change fee amounts, or introduce transitional provisions. The use of penalty units and fee units means that amendment will be required only if the legislature decides to alter the relative severity of an offence or the cost of an administrative service, not merely to adjust for inflation (since inflation is automatically captured by changes to the unit value in the parent legislation). The regulations are set in a format that is likely intended to be stable, but the specific scheduling of offences and fee items could be expanded in the future if the Act is amended to create new offences or new licence categories.

The source text contains no reference to any litigation concerning these regulations. As a newly made instrument taking effect on 23 December 2025, it is highly unlikely that any court has yet considered its validity or interpretation. The regulations themselves are mechanical in nature - they set numbers for penalties and fees - so they are less likely to generate litigation than the substantive provisions of the principal Act. However, litigation could arise if a person challenges the validity of an infringement notice on the grounds that the penalty prescribed in Schedule 1 was incorrectly applied, or that the offence was not properly prescribed as an infringement offence. For example, a challenge might argue that the regulations were not made in accordance with the parent Act or that the penalty unit amount at the time of the offence was different from that applied. Similarly, a dispute could arise about the correct fee payable for a particular transaction, especially if the description in Schedule 2 column 3 is ambiguous for an unusual fact pattern. The regulations do not include any savings or transitional provisions, so if the predecessor regulations had different penalty amounts or fees, transitional litigation could occur over whether the old or new amount applies to conduct or applications straddling the commencement date. There is no case law cited in the regulations. Practitioners should search for any judicial decisions that interpret the relevant sections of the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002, as those may affect how the infringement offences and fees are applied. However, for the regulations themselves, the litigation history is a blank slate at this point. The regulations are administered by the Department of Justice, which may issue guidance or internal rulings, but those are not a substitute for judicial consideration. Any future litigation will likely turn on the interpretation of the Act rather than the regulations, unless a specific regulation is challenged as ultra vires.

Several aspects of these regulations could trip up the unwary. First, the differential penalty amounts for bodies corporate versus natural persons apply to most but not all offences. Items 2, 18, 19 and 20 impose a flat penalty of 5 penalty units regardless of entity type. This means a body corporate committing the offence under section 4(2) pays the same as a natural person - 5 penalty units - whereas for a similar but related offence under section 4(1) the body corporate would pay double the natural person rate (10 versus 5). A practitioner must check each item carefully rather than assume a consistent pattern. Second, the fee amounts are expressed in fee units, not dollars. The actual dollar cost will depend on the fee unit value in force when the fee is paid. That value is set outside these regulations (e.g., by the Legislation Act 2001). If the fee unit value has been increased between the date of the regulation and the date of payment, the fee will be higher than the raw number suggests. Similarly, penalty unit values may change, affecting the real cost of an infringement notice. Third, there is a significant cost differential between an agent licence application (455 fee units) and an employee licence application (120 fee units). A person who misclassifies their role or the entity structure could overpay or underpay, potentially rendering an application invalid. Fourth, the fee for an exemption from the requirement to wear an identity card is 35 fee units. If a licensee unnecessarily applies for an exemption that could have been obtained through a different administrative process, they waste money. Conversely, failing to obtain an exemption when required could lead to an infringement offence for non-compliance with the ID card requirement (likely one of the listed sections, such as section 27(1) or 27(2) - 2 penalty units for a natural person). That is cheaper than the exemption fee but carries the risk of a record. Fifth, the inspection fee for the register of licences is only 11 fee units, which is low. A competitor or journalist could use this to gather intelligence cheaply. Sixth, the regulations do not provide for refunds of fees if an application is refused. The fee is for the application process, not for a guaranteed outcome. Seventh, the source text does not include any transitional provisions or grandfathering. If a person had submitted an application or committed an offence before 23 December 2025, the applicable fees and penalties may depend on the date the application or offence was considered, not the date of payment or notice. This needs to be checked against general transitional rules. Eighth, the regulations only cover infringement offences; they do not cap the maximum penalty that a court could impose upon conviction. A person who elects to contest an infringement notice in court may face a much higher penalty under the Act, plus costs. Ninth, the regulations do not specify who has authority to issue infringement notices - it may be the Department, the police, or other authorised officers. A notice issued by an unauthorised person could be invalid. Finally, the regulations are short and seem simple, but they cross-reference a complex Act. A mistake in understanding the underlying Act section could lead to misapplication of the penalty or fee.

Compliance with these regulations is procedural rather than substantive. For a licensee or applicant, the primary action is to pay the correct fee at the correct time using the correct fee unit value. When applying for an agent licence, the applicant must pay 455 fee units; for an employee licence, 120 fee units. The fee should be calculated by multiplying the number of fee units by the current fee unit dollar value as prescribed by the relevant legislation in force at the time of payment. It is advisable to verify the current fee unit value with the Department of Justice or on the official legislation website before making payment. The same applies to amendment applications, duplicate requests, exemption applications, register inspections, and requests for copies of the code of conduct - pay the prescribed fee units. Keep a record of the payment receipt and the date of application. For infringement notices, compliance means either paying the penalty amount specified in the notice within the required period (typically 28 or 14 days after service) or, if the recipient intends to contest the allegation, making a formal election to have the matter heard in court. If paying, the penalty amount is the number of penalty units multiplied by the penalty unit value at the time of the offence (not the time of payment, unless otherwise provided). The notice itself should state the penalty amount in dollars, not penalty units; the issuer will have calculated it. Do not assume that paying the infringement notice automatically avoids a criminal record - that depends on the jurisdiction’s laws. For bodies corporate, the higher penalty amounts mean a greater financial exposure; it may be more cost-effective to ensure rigorous compliance policies are in place to avoid any contraventions of the listed Act sections. Conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with licensing, identity card display, and other duties under the Act. Any changes in circumstances (such as a change of address or structure) should be reported to the licensing authority promptly to avoid triggering an offence. If an infringement notice is received and the recipient believes it is in error, they should seek legal advice before making an election or paying, as the regulations provide no mechanism for disputing the notice administratively. For the Department of Justice, compliance involves ensuring that fees are collected in the correct amounts, that infringement notices are issued only for prescribed offences and at the correct penalties, and that any changes to the value of a penalty unit or fee unit are promptly applied in practice.