Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

DEFENCE (VISITING FORCES) ACT 1963 - SECT 8

             (1)  The service tribunals and service authorities of a country in relation to which this section applies may, within Australia, or on board a ship or aircraft belonging to or in the service of the Defence Force or a part of the Defence Force, exercise over persons subject to their jurisdiction in accordance with this section all such powers as are exercisable by them in accordance with the law of that country.

             (2)  The persons subject to the jurisdiction of the service tribunals and service authorities of a country in accordance with this section are:

                     (a)  members of any visiting force of that country; and

                     (b)  all other persons who, being neither Australian citizens nor persons ordinarily resident in Australia, are for the time being subject to the service law of that country otherwise than as members of that country's forces.

             (3)  For the purposes of the last preceding subsection, a person shall be treated as not being a member of a visiting force of a country if he or she became, or last became, a member of that country's forces at a time when he or she was in Australia, unless he or she then became a member of those forces with his or her consent.

             (4)  Where a sentence has, whether within or beyond the territorial limits of Australia, been passed by a service tribunal of a country in relation to which this section applies upon a person who was, immediately before the sentence was passed, subject to the jurisdiction of that tribunal in accordance with this section, then, for the purposes of any proceedings in a court:

                     (a)  the service tribunal shall be deemed to have been properly constituted;

                     (b)  the sentence shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of the service tribunal and in accordance with the law of that country; and

                     (c)  the sentence shall, if executed according to its tenor, be deemed to have been lawfully executed.

             (5)  Notwithstanding anything in the preceding provisions of this section, a sentence of death passed by a service tribunal of a country in relation to which this section applies shall not be carried out in Australia.

             (6)  A person who:

                     (a)  is detained in custody in pursuance of a sentence with respect to which subsection (4) has effect; or

                     (b)  being subject in accordance with this section to the jurisdiction of the service tribunals of a country in relation to which this section applies, is detained in custody pending or during the trial by a service tribunal of that country of a charge brought against him or her;

shall, for the purposes of any proceedings in a court, be deemed to be in lawful custody.

             (7)  For the purpose of enabling the service tribunals and service authorities of a country in relation to which this section applies to exercise more effectively the powers referred to in subsection (1), the Chief of Navy, the Chief of Army or the Chief of Air Force, if so requested by the designated authority of that country, may, by general or special orders, direct members of that part of the Defence Force under his or her command to arrest any person who, being a member of a visiting force of that country, is alleged to have committed an offence punishable under the law of that country and to deliver him or her to such service authority of that country as is designated by or under any of those orders.