Summary Offences Act 2005

The Act primarily affects members of the public whose behaviour occurs in or is visible from public places, as well as owners and occupiers of land that may be trespassed upon or marked with graffiti. Police officers are the main enforcers; they are given explicit powers to commence proceedings without a complainant (s 6(4)), to consider vulnerability before acting on urination offences (s 7(3)), and to seize items under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (cross-referenced in ss 10E, 15(4), 47).

Commercial entities are heavily regulated. Sellers of controlled items, spray paint or potentially harmful substances (ss 19E, 23, 23A–23E) must implement training, signage, secure storage and age-verification systems. Employees of such businesses face personal liability only after their employer has discharged the s 19H or s 23A prevention-measures obligations. Tattooists and body-piercers are prohibited from performing certain procedures on minors (ss 18–19).

Protesters and activists are directly affected by the unlawful assembly (s 10A), dangerous attachment device (ss 14A–14C) and social-media-glorification (s 26B) provisions. Farmers, animal husbandry operators, food producers and exhibition operators receive specific protection from trespass and gate-opening offences (s 13). Motor vehicle owners and drivers are subject to the hooning-related offences (ss 19C–19D) and the vehicle-endangerment offence (s 26).

Graffiti removal officers (both State and local government appointees under s 37) and their helpers exercise statutory entry and removal powers (ss 28–30) and enjoy statutory immunity (ss 31–32). Property owners receive protection from civil liability for injuries to officers (s 32) and cannot be charged for removal work (s 33), though they may claim compensation for loss beyond mere graffiti removal (s 34).

Minors are protected persons; the Act expressly removes consent as a defence to intimate piercing (s 18(2)) and prohibits tattooing outright (s 19). Journalists receive a reasonable-excuse carve-out for spectating hooning activities (s 19C(3)(a)). Finally, the general public benefits as intended beneficiaries of the objects stated in ss 5, 10B and 19A: reduced fear, intimidation, public disorder and graffiti.

Duties fall on individuals, businesses and appointees. Every person has a duty not to commit public nuisance (s 6(1)), urinate in public (s 7(1)), wilfully expose genitals (s 9(1)–(2)), participate in unlawful assembly (s 10A(1)), wear prohibited items (s 10C), trespass (s 11), drive motorbikes unlawfully on public land (s 11A), gather unlawfully in buildings (s 12), enter protected rural land (s 13), perform high-risk activities (s 14), use dangerous attachment devices to disrupt transport or business (s 14C), possess implements or suspected stolen property or graffiti instruments (ss 15–17), pierce or tattoo minors (ss 18–19), promote hooning (s 19C), possess hooning items (s 19D), sell controlled items to minors or in prohibited ways (ss 19G, 19I, 19M), sell harmful substances for inhalation (s 23), sell spray paint to minors (s 23B), throw objects at sporting events (s 24), provide traffic-enforcement warnings (s 24A), unlawfully use vehicles (s 25), advertise no-questions rewards (s 25A), endanger vehicles (s 26), interfere with graves (s 26A) or publish glorifying material (s 26B).

Commercial sellers owe positive duties: to instruct and warn employees and obtain written acknowledgements (ss 19H, 23A), display prohibition signs (ss 19K, 23D), securely store specified blades (s 19L), and avoid combat-suggestive marketing (s 19M). Graffiti removal officers must give notices where required (s 30), leave property in an acceptable state (s 28(2)–(3)), produce identity cards (s 40), and avoid unnecessary damage (s 35).

Rights and defences are expressly conferred. Reasonable excuse is a defence to wilful exposure (s 9), motorbike offences (s 11A), dangerous attachment device use (s 14C), and obstruction of graffiti officers (s 36). Artistic/educational defences apply to prohibited items (s 10D). Age-verification defences protect sellers and employees who sight acceptable evidence of age (ss 19G(3), 19I(3), 23B(3)). Industrial officers retain entry rights (ss 11(3), 12(4), 13(4)). Owners may object to graffiti removal within 14 days (s 30(5)) and claim compensation for loss beyond graffiti removal itself (s 34). Journalists and persons reporting to police have reasonable excuse to spectate hooning (s 19C(3)). The Act expressly preserves Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 s 46 rights for refusals to sell (ss 19J, 23(2), 23B(4)).

Vulnerable persons receive procedural rights: police must consider vulnerability and attempts to avoid embarrassment before enforcing urination offences (s 7(3)–(4)). The Act contains “to remove any doubt” clauses that clarify non-application of certain defences to dangerous attachment devices (s 14B(7)).

Penalties are calibrated by seriousness and repetition. Public nuisance carries 10 penalty units or 6 months (25/6 months aggravated) (s 6(1)). Urination is 2 or 4 penalty units (s 7(1)). Wilful exposure is 2 penalty units or, if aggravated, 40 penalty units or 1 year (s 9). Unlawful assembly is 1 year or 2 years if violence continues with knowledge (s 10A(1)). Prohibited items attract 40/60/100 penalty units or 6/9/12 months according to repeat offending (s 10C). Trespass is 20/40 penalty units or 1 year (s 11). Rural trespass is 20 penalty units or 12 months; leaving gates open is 10/6 months (s 13). High-risk activities are 20 penalty units or 1 year plus possible rescue costs (s 14). Dangerous attachment device offences are 20–50 penalty units or 1–2 years (s 14C). Possession offences are generally 20 penalty units or 1 year (ss 15–17). Minor-related offences reach 40–80 penalty units or 6–12 months (ss 18–19). Hooning offences are 40 penalty units or 1 year (ss 19C–19D). Controlled-item sales attract 140/280/420 penalty units for commercial sellers and 20/40 for instructed employees (ss 19G, 19I). Spray-paint and harmful-substance offences mirror this tiered structure (ss 23, 23B, 23C). Social-media glorification is 2 years (s 26B). Most other offences are 10–25 penalty units or 6–12 months.

Enforcement is summary (s 46). Police may seize items (cross-referenced in s 10E and Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 ss 29, 31) and courts may order forfeiture (ss 47, 47A), community service or compensation (s 17(2)). Graffiti removal is civil in nature but backed by obstruction offence (s 36: 40 penalty units) and identity-card requirements (ss 39–40). Procedural safeguards appear in s 634 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 for several offences (ss 11, 15, 16, 48).

The Act is expressly subordinate in several respects. Section 10A(2A) provides that the unlawful assembly provision on business land “applies subject to” the Industrial Relations Act 2016. Sections 11(3), 12(4) and 13(4) preserve authorised industrial officers’ entry rights. Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 s 46 is engaged to deem refusals to sell controlled items or harmful substances non-discriminatory (ss 19J, 23(2), 23B(4)).

Heavy reliance is placed on the Criminal Code: s 52B aggravation for licensed premises or violence (ss 6(6), 11(4)), definitions of genitalia and impairment of the mind (s 18(3)), and vehicle definition (s 26(4)). The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 supplies seizure powers (ss 10E, 29, 31), procedural safeguards before charging (ss 11, 15, 16, 48), and the definition of hooning offences (s 19B). The Liquor Act 1992 supplies the prohibited-item definition (s 10C(3)). Biosecurity Act 2014 supplies the biosecurity-risk concept (s 10A(1)(b)(ii)(C)). Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 schedule 6 defines transport infrastructure (s 14C(4)) and rail government entities (s 45(5)). The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 governs community service and compensation orders (s 17(2)).

The Act repeals the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act 1931 (s 50) and declares that regulations may reclassify exempt knives as controlled items (s 49(2)). Forfeiture interacts with the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002 (s 47A(5)). Evidentiary presumptions in s 48 and the graffiti-removal liability shield (ss 31–32) modify general tort and evidence principles.

The provided text records successive expansions. The 2008 amendments (No 55 s 146, No 65 s 4) introduced unlawful assembly (s 10A) and revised urination enforcement to protect vulnerable persons (s 7). The 2014 amendments (No 42) added licensed-premises aggravation to public nuisance and trespass (ss 6, 11), substituted the wilful exposure provision (s 10, later omitted) and updated prohibited-item rules. The 2016 amendment (No 62 s 398) inserted the entire Division 1B on prohibited items to reduce public disorder linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

The 2019 insertion of Division 2A (No 35 s 11) responded to protest tactics by defining dangerous attachment devices with granular examples and creating disruption offences (ss 14A–14C). The 2020 amendments (No 3 s 133, No 23 ss 60B–60D) expanded s 13 rural-trespass protections to food-production facilities and exhibition animals, reflecting agricultural biosecurity and animal-welfare concerns. The 2023 changes (No 10 s 34, No 21 s 63, No 26 s 29) introduced the hooning division (ss 19A–19D), removed obsolete s 8 and s 10, and adjusted public-nuisance and urination penalties.

The 2024 amendments (No 1 ss 6–11, No 24 ss 54, 57, No 45 ss 7, 91) are the most extensive: they created the controlled-items regime (ss 19E–19N) to curb youth access to weapons, updated tattooing and piercing offences, inserted social-media glorification (s 26B), refined spray-paint rules, added forfeiture for graffiti-recording devices (s 47A), and adjusted identity-card and delegation provisions. These changes reflect evolving policy priorities—youth knife crime, protest safety, road safety, graffiti, and online glorification of offending—while preserving industrial and anti-discrimination balances.

The Act itself does not record specific judicial decisions; however, its text reveals legislative awareness of potential controversy. The “to remove any doubt” clauses in ss 14B(7) and 10A(2) indicate drafters anticipated arguments that self-release capability or industrial rights might negate liability. The mandatory consideration of vulnerability before urination enforcement (s 7(3)–(4)) and the defence of reasonable steps to avoid embarrassment address criticisms of over-criminalisation of homelessness or disability. The express preservation of journalist reasonable excuse in s 19C(3) and the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 carve-outs (ss 19J, 23(2), 23B(4)) respond to free-speech and equality concerns.

Controversial scope expansions—particularly dangerous attachment devices (2019) and social-media glorification (2024)—contain detailed definitional safeguards and journalist exemptions, suggesting legislative anticipation of constitutional or human-rights arguments around protest and expression. The graffiti-removal regime (Part 3) carefully limits entry to dwellings, requires notices, and shifts civil liability to the State or local government (ss 31–32), mitigating trespass and property-rights objections. Forfeiture of devices used to record graffiti (s 47A) is confined to adult offenders and requires court satisfaction as to use, reflecting concerns about proportionality. Overall the statute is drafted to withstand challenge by embedding objects clauses (ss 5, 10B, 19A), defences, and cross-references that preserve industrial rights and anti-discrimination norms.

Most practitioners miss that s 7(3) imposes a mandatory pre-enforcement duty on police to consider vulnerability and reasonable avoidance steps; failure to do so can render infringement notices or prosecutions vulnerable to challenge even though the section does not expressly create a defence. The “likely to interfere” limb of public nuisance (s 6(2)(b)) does not require actual complaint (s 6(4)), allowing proactive policing that can surprise defendants who believe no one was disturbed. Unlawful assembly (s 10A(1)(b)(ii)) captures conduct on s 13(1) land that poses a biosecurity risk or disrupts business equipment even without fear of violence; the example of interfering with production machinery is often overlooked.

The dangerous attachment device definitions (s 14B) are deliberately technology-neutral and include “to remove any doubt” provisions that eliminate self-release, timing or protective-clothing arguments; many protest lawyers initially assume these devices are lawful until they encounter the exhaustive list. Section 19M’s prohibition on marketing that “suggests” suitability for combat or violence extends to packaging imagery and sheaths; the “lawful use” carve-out in s 19M(4) is narrow and does not cover fictional violent depictions. Hooning spectator liability (s 19C(1)(b)) contains a journalist defence, but only for gathering or reporting to police; passive social-media viewing is not covered.

Graffiti removal officers need not give notice if the owner consents on contact or if removal occurs from a public place with minimal intrusion (s 30(7), s 29(5)); property owners frequently discover painted walls only after the fact and then learn they cannot charge the State (s 33). Forfeiture under s 47A for devices that recorded graffiti images applies on adult conviction for s 17 and requires only reasonable suspicion of the graffiti instrument’s connection; digital phones are routinely caught. Finally, the tiered penalty structure for repeat sales of controlled items (s 19G) counts prior employee offences against the commercial seller, creating corporate vicarious exposure that is easily missed.

Compliance begins with behavioural awareness. Individuals must avoid the four limbs of public nuisance (s 6(2)(a)) in any setting where the public may pass or congregate. Businesses must embed age-verification systems, employee training records (ss 19H, 23A), prohibition signage (ss 19K, 23D) and secure storage (s 19L). Retailers should audit product lines against the controlled-item list (s 19E) and remove combat-suggestive packaging or advertising (s 19M).

Event organisers and landowners should familiarise themselves with trespass exceptions for authorised industrial officers (ss 11(3), 12(4), 13(4)) and ensure clear signage on rural land. Protest planners must avoid devices meeting any limb of s 14B; even non-injurious tripods or monopoles become dangerous if they incorporate a dangerous substance. Social-media policies should prohibit posting material that depicts and glorifies prescribed offences (s 26B(1)).

Graffiti removal officers must carry and produce identity cards (ss 39–40), issue approved-form notices where required (s 30), minimise property disruption (s 28(2)), and record damage particulars (s 35). Appointing authorities must ensure appointees have necessary expertise (s 37(2)) and issue conditions limiting powers where appropriate (s 38).

All parties should maintain records: sellers need written employee acknowledgements; police must document vulnerability assessments (s 7(4)); courts exercising forfeiture powers under s 47A must be satisfied of the recording-device nexus. Regular training on the escalating penalty regimes for repeat offences (ss 10C, 19G, 19I, 23B, 23C) is essential. Where doubt exists, the statutory objects (ss 5, 10B, 19A) and the numerous “reasonable excuse” and defence provisions supply a compliance lodestar: conduct that is genuinely artistic, journalistic, industrial or vulnerability-driven will generally be protected.