3Interpretation

#### 3 Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: > appropriate Minister, in relation to a State, means: (a) in the case of a State other than the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory—the Minister of the State who is responsible for the administration of the State transfer law of that State; and (aa) in respect of the Australian Capital Territory—the Minister for that Territory who is responsible for the administration of the law of that Territory relating to the interstate transfer of prisoners; and (b) in the case of the Northern Territory—the person holding Ministerial office under section 36 of the Northern Territory (Self‑Government) Act 1978 who is responsible for the administration of the State transfer law of the Northern Territory. > Commonwealth prisoner means a person who is either a federal prisoner or a Territory prisoner and includes a prisoner upon whom a sentence of imprisonment was imposed for an offence against a law of the Northern Territory and who was, before 12 June 1985, removed to the State of South Australia under section 3 of the Removal of Prisoners (Territories) Act 1923. > complementary State order of transfer means a State order of transfer other than an order for the transfer of a State prisoner from a State to another State or to a Territory. > default imprisonment means imprisonment in default of payment of a fine ordered to be paid on the conviction of a person for an offence. > federal prisoner means a person upon whom a federal sentence of imprisonment has been imposed. > federal sentence of imprisonment means a sentence of imprisonment for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth. > fine means a pecuniary penalty imposed by a court for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, together with any amount (including an amount of costs, compensation or revenue charges) the payment of which by the person on whom the fine was imposed was ordered by the court in the proceedings in which the fine was imposed. > imprisonment includes penal servitude. > joint prisoner means a Commonwealth prisoner who, if he or she were not a federal prisoner or a Territory prisoner, would be a State prisoner. > legal practitioner means a person who is enrolled as a barrister, a solicitor, or a barrister and solicitor of a federal court or of a court of a State or Territory. > local prisons authority: (a) in relation to a State—has the meaning given by the State transfer law of that State; or (b) in relation to a Territory—has the meaning prescribed by the regulations. > minimum term of imprisonment means that part of a sentence of imprisonment that is fixed by a court or by operation of law as the period during which a prisoner is not eligible to be released on parole. > Parliament means: (a) in relation to the Australian Capital Territory—the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory; or (b) in relation to the Northern Territory—the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory. > prison includes: (a) any place where a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment may be detained to undergo that imprisonment; and (b) any place where a person who has been charged with an offence may be remanded in custody for that offence. > prisoner means a person who is a Commonwealth prisoner or a State prisoner. > relevant security, in relation to a person, means a security given by the person, with or without sureties, by recognizance or otherwise, that the person will comply with conditions relating to his or her behaviour. > remand prisoner means a person who has been charged with an offence against a law of the Commonwealth and who has been remanded in custody for that offence. > Removal Act means the Removal of Prisoners (Australian Capital Territory) Act 1968 or the Removal of Prisoners (Territories) Act 1923. > return transfer order means an order for the transfer of a prisoner made under section 14, 16A or 16C. > security means: (a) the protection of, and of the people of, the Commonwealth and the several States and Territories from: (i) espionage; or (ii) sabotage; or (iii) politically motivated violence; or (iv) promotion of communal violence; or (v) attacks on Australia’s defence system; or (vi) acts of foreign interference; or whether directed from, or committed within, Australia or not; and (b) the carrying out of Australia’s responsibilities to any foreign country in relation to a matter mentioned in any of the subparagraphs of paragraph (a). > security transfer order means an order for the transfer of a prisoner made under section 16B. > sentence of imprisonment for an indeterminate period means: (a) a sentence of imprisonment for life; or (b) a sentence, order or direction of a kind referred to in paragraph (17)(c) or (d). > service tribunal means a person, body or tribunal that, under a law relating to the discipline of the Defence Force, is empowered to impose a sentence of imprisonment. > State includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. > State order of transfer means an order, under a State transfer law of a State, for the transfer of a person who is a joint prisoner (in his or her capacity as a person upon whom a State sentence of imprisonment has been imposed) or who is a State prisoner from that State to another State or to a Territory. > State prisoner means a person upon whom a State sentence of imprisonment has been imposed but does not include a person who is a Commonwealth prisoner. > State sentence of imprisonment means a sentence of imprisonment for an offence against a law of a State. > State transfer law, of a State, means a law declared under section 5 to be the State transfer law of that State. > Territory means Norfolk Island, the Territory of Christmas Island, the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands or the Jervis Bay Territory. > Territory prisoner means a person upon whom a Territory sentence of imprisonment has been imposed but does not include a person who is a federal prisoner. > Territory sentence of imprisonment means a sentence of imprisonment for an offence against a law of a Territory. > transfer order means: (aa) a security transfer order; or (a) a return transfer order; or (b) a trial transfer order; or (c) a welfare transfer order; or (d) an order under section 16D or 16E. > transferred sentence, in relation to a prisoner, means a transferred State sentence of that prisoner or a transferred Territory sentence of that prisoner. > transferred State sentence, in relation to a prisoner who is transferred to a Territory in pursuance of a transfer order or a State order of transfer, or both, means a sentence of imprisonment that, in accordance with subsection 18(2), is taken to have been imposed upon that prisoner under, and for an offence against, a law of that last‑mentioned Territory. > transferred Territory sentence, in relation to a prisoner who is transferred from one State or Territory to another State or Territory in pursuance of a transfer order, means a sentence of imprisonment that, in accordance with subsection 18(1), is taken to have been imposed upon that prisoner under, and for an offence against, a law of the last‑mentioned State or Territory. > translated sentence, in relation to a prisoner whose transfer from one State to another State is authorized by a complementary State order of transfer made under the State transfer law of that first‑mentioned State, means a State sentence of imprisonment that, in accordance with the provisions of the State transfer law of the second‑mentioned State that correspond to the provisions of Part V of this Act, is taken to have been imposed upon that prisoner under a law of that second‑mentioned State. > trial transfer order means an order for the transfer of a prisoner of the kind referred to in section 8 or 9. > welfare transfer order means an order for the transfer of a prisoner made under section 6. (2) For the purposes of this Act, a complementary State order of transfer corresponds to a transfer order if the first‑mentioned order is made for the same purposes as the second‑mentioned order. (3) A reference in this Act to a person upon whom a sentence of imprisonment has been imposed does not include a reference to a person who has completed serving that sentence. (4) The following persons upon whom a sentence of imprisonment has been imposed shall be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to have completed serving that sentence: (a) a person: (i) who has been released from serving a part of that sentence on parole or upon licence to be at large; and (ii) in respect of whom action can no longer be taken under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory by way of requiring him or her to serve the whole or a part of the remainder of that sentence; (b) a person: (i) who has been released by a court from serving the whole or a part of that sentence upon his or her giving a relevant security; and (ii) in relation to whom action can no longer be taken under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory by reason of a breach of a condition of that security or by reason of the expiration of the security; (c) a person who, as the result of the exercise of the Royal prerogative of mercy, is no longer required to serve the whole or a part of that sentence. (5) A reference in this Act to a sentence shall be construed as including a reference to any direction or order given or made by the court imposing the sentence with respect to the commencement of the sentence. (6) Where a sentence of death imposed on a person has been commuted to a term of imprisonment or to imprisonment for life, this Act applies to and in relation to the person as if the sentence of death had been a sentence of imprisonment for that term or for life, as the case requires. (7) For the purposes of this Act, a prisoner shall be taken to have been transferred from one State or Territory to another State or Territory in pursuance of a transfer order from the time when the prisoner arrives, in pursuance of that order, in that other State or Territory. (8) For the purposes of this Act, a charge in respect of an offence shall be taken to have been dealt with according to law if: (a) the charge has been heard and determined (whether or not there exists any right of appeal or review in respect of the decision given upon that hearing); or (b) the charge has been withdrawn or, for any reason, a decision has been taken not to proceed with the charge. (9) For the purposes of this Act: (a) a transferred sentence of a prisoner who is transferred in pursuance of a transfer order shall be taken to be attributable to the corresponding sentence to which the prisoner was subject immediately before being so transferred; and (b) a translated sentence of a prisoner who is transferred in pursuance of a State order of transfer shall be taken to be attributable to the corresponding sentence to which the prisoner was subject immediately before being so transferred. (10) A transfer order (other than an order under Part IV) for the transfer of the person upon whom there has been imposed: (a) a sentence of imprisonment for contempt of court; or (b) a sentence of imprisonment for breach of the privileges of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or of a State; or (c) a sentence of imprisonment that involves the periodic detention of the person; shall not be made or executed while he or she continues to be such a person. (11) A transfer order for the transfer of a person upon whom there has been imposed by a court a sentence of imprisonment and who: (a) has been released by the court from serving the whole or a part of that sentence upon his or her giving a relevant security, being a relevant security in respect of a breach of a condition in respect of which action may be taken under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory; or (b) is serving a part of that sentence and is entitled, in accordance with the directions or orders of the court, to be released from serving the remainder of that sentence upon his or her giving a relevant security; shall not be made or executed while he or she continues to be such a person. (12) A reference in this Act to a person who has been transferred to a State or Territory in pursuance of a transfer order shall not be taken not to include a person whose transfer to that State or Territory is also authorized by a complementary State order of transfer. (13) For the purposes of this Act and of any other law of the Commonwealth and for the purposes of any law of a State or Territory in its application by virtue of a provision of this Act, a sentence of imprisonment imposed under, and for an offence against, a law of a State or Territory shall be deemed to be imposed in, and by a court of, that State or Territory. (14) For the purposes of this Act, where a person upon whom a sentence of penal servitude has been imposed is transferred in pursuance of a transfer order, that sentence shall be deemed, immediately before his or her being so transferred, to have been a sentence of imprisonment. (15) A person upon whom a federal sentence of imprisonment has been imposed: (a) by a court of a State or Territory (in this subsection referred to as the relevant State or the relevant Territory in relation to the person); or (b) by the High Court, by a court created by the Parliament under Chapter III of the Constitution or by a service tribunal, being a person who is serving that sentence in a State or Territory (in this subsection referred to as the relevant State or the relevant Territory in relation to the person); is liable to undergo that sentence in the State or Territory that is the relevant State or relevant Territory in relation to the person or in any other State or Territory to which he or she is transferred in pursuance of a transfer order (whether from that relevant State or relevant Territory or any other State or Territory). (16) Where: (a) a direction under section 19 of the Crimes Act 1914 fixed the commencement of a federal sentence of imprisonment imposed upon a person by reference to a State or Territory sentence of imprisonment (in this subsection referred to as the prior sentence); and (b) the person is transferred in pursuance of a transfer order; then, for the purposes of subsection (15) and of this subsection, the direction shall be deemed, on and after the transfer of that person, to have fixed that commencement by reference to the transferred sentence or translated sentence attributable to the prior sentence. (17) A sentence, order or direction referred to in any of the following paragraphs shall be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to be a sentence of imprisonment imposed for the offence referred to in that paragraph: (a) a sentence of imprisonment imposed on a person convicted of an offence in default of his or her giving a relevant security in relation to that conviction; (b) a sentence of imprisonment imposed in default of payment of a fine ordered to be paid upon the conviction of a person for an offence; (c) a sentence of, or an order or direction for, the imprisonment or detention of a person during the pleasure of the Sovereign, the Governor‑General, a Governor of a State or the Administrator of a Territory made upon the conviction of that person for an offence on the ground (in whatever terms expressed) that the person has been declared to be a habitual criminal; (d) an order or direction for the imprisonment or detention of a person during the pleasure of the Sovereign, the Governor‑General, the Governor of a State or the Administrator of a Territory upon the acquittal of the person of an offence on the ground of unsoundness of mind or insanity, being an order or direction by virtue of which the person is detained in a prison. (18) A reference in this Act to a conviction of a person for an offence includes a reference to an acquittal of that person of the offence on the ground of unsoundness of mind or insanity. (19) A reference in this Act to the Governor of a State includes a reference: (a) in the case of a State other than the Northern Territory—to any person exercising and performing all the powers and functions of the Governor of that State; and (b) in the case of the Northern Territory—to the Administrator of the Northern Territory, and to any person exercising and performing all the powers and functions of the Administrator of the Northern Territory. (20) A reference in this Act to the Administrator of a Territory includes a reference to a person exercising and performing all the powers and functions of the Administrator of that Territory.