Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

MIGRATION ACT 1958 - SECT 249

  (1)   An officer may:

  (a)   prevent a person whom the officer reasonably suspects to be an unlawful non - citizen from leaving a vessel on which the person arrived in Australia; or

  (b)   prevent a removee or deportee from leaving a vessel on which he or she has been placed;

and may take such action and use such force as are necessary for that purpose.

  (1AA)   An officer may prevent a person from leaving a vessel on which the person arrived in Australia if the officer reasonably suspects that the person:

  (a)   is seeking to enter the migration zone; and

  (b)   would, if in the migration zone, be an unlawful non - citizen.

  (1A)   To avoid doubt, and without limiting the generality of subsections   (1) and (1AA), if a person of a kind referred to in paragraph   (1)(a) or subsection   (1AA) is on board a vessel (other than an aircraft), the actions that may be taken by an officer under subsections   (1) and (1AA) include:

  (a)   requiring the vessel to travel to a port; and

  (b)   requiring the person to remain on the vessel until it arrives at the port.

  (2)   The master of a vessel may, in relation to persons on board the vessel, do all things which an officer is, under subsections   (1) and (1AA), authorized to do.