Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) Subject to
subsection (2), a person shall not knowingly publish or communicate a private
conversation, or a report or record of a private conversation, or a record of
a private activity that has come to the person’s knowledge as a direct
or indirect result of the use of a listening device or an optical surveillance
device.
Penalty:
(a) for
an individual: $5 000 or imprisonment for 12 months, or both;
(b) for
a body corporate: $50 000.
(2) Subsection (1)
does not apply —
(a)
where the publication or communication is made —
(i)
to a party to the private conversation or the private
activity;
(ii)
with the express or implied consent of each principal
party to the private conversation or private activity;
(iii)
to any person or persons authorised for the purpose by
the Commissioner of Police, the Corruption and Crime Commission or the Chair
of the Board of the Australian Crime Commission;
(iiia)
to a designated Commission or to any person or persons authorised for the
purpose by a designated Commission;
(iv)
by a law enforcement officer to the Director of Public
Prosecutions of the State or of the Commonwealth or an authorised
representative of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the State or of the
Commonwealth;
(v)
in the course of the duty of the person making the
publication or communication;
(vi)
for the protection of the lawful interests of the person
making the publication or communication;
(vii)
in the case of the use of a listening device or an
optical surveillance device in the circumstances referred to in
section 5(3)(d) or 6(3)(b)(iii), as the case requires, in the course of
reasonable action taken to protect the lawful interests of the principal party
to the conversation or activity who consented to the use of the device;
(viii)
in accordance with Part 5; or
(ix)
in the course of any legal proceedings;
(b)
where the publication or communication is made to a member of the police force
of the State or of another State or a Territory in connection with —
(i)
an indictable drug offence or an external indictable drug
offence; or
(ii)
any other indictable matter of such seriousness as to
warrant the publication or communication;
or
(c)
where the person making the publication or communication believes on
reasonable grounds that it was necessary to make that publication or
communication in connection with an imminent threat of serious violence to
persons or of substantial damage to property.
(3) Subsection (2)
only provides a defence if the publication or communication —
(a) is
not more than is reasonably necessary —
(i)
in the public interest;
(ii)
in the performance of a duty of the person making the
publication or communication; or
(iii)
for the protection of the lawful interests of the person
making the publication or communication;
(b) is
made to a person who has, or is believed on reasonable grounds by the person
making the publication or communication to have, such an interest in the
private conversation or activity as to make the publication or communication
reasonable under the circumstances in which it is made;
(c) is
made by a person who used the listening device to record, monitor or listen to
that conversation or an optical surveillance device to record or observe that
private activity in accordance with a warrant or an emergency authorisation
issued under Part 4; or
(d) is
made by an authorised person employed in connection with the security of the
Commonwealth under an Act of the Commonwealth relating to the security of the
Commonwealth.
[Section 9 amended: No. 78 of 2003 s. 74; No. 74
of 2004 s. 72(4); No. 30 of 2006 s. 17.]