Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts (1)
For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be taken to be convicted
of an offence if:
(a) the person is convicted, whether summarily or on indictment, of the
offence;
(b) the person is charged with, and found guilty of, the offence but is
discharged without conviction;
(c) a court, with the consent of the person, takes the offence, of
which the person has not been found guilty, into account in passing sentence
on the person for another offence; or
(d) the person absconds in connection with the offence.
(2)
For the purposes of this Act, a person’s conviction of an offence
shall be taken to be quashed:
(a) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(a)—if the conviction is quashed
or set aside;
(b) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(b)—if the finding of guilt is
quashed or set aside;
(c) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(c)—if either of the following
events occur:
(i) the person’s conviction of the other offence referred to in
that paragraph is quashed or set aside;
(ii) the decision of the court to take the offence into account in
passing sentence for that other offence is quashed or set aside; or
(d) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(d)—if, after the person is
brought before a court in respect of the offence, the person is discharged in
respect of the offence or a conviction of the person for the offence is
quashed or set aside.
(3)
For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be taken to have been
convicted of an offence in a particular State or Territory if:
(a) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(a)—the person was convicted of
the offence in a court in that State or Territory;
(b) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(b)—the person was discharged
without conviction by a court in that State or Territory;
(c) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(c)—the offence was taken into
account by a court in that State or Territory in passing sentence on the
person for the other offence referred to in that paragraph; or
(d) where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the
offence by reason of paragraph (1)(d)—the information alleging the
commission of the offence by the person was laid in that State or Territory.
(4)
For the purposes of this Act, where a person is to be taken to have
been convicted of an offence in a particular State or Territory by reason of
paragraph (3)(d), the person shall be taken to have been so convicted
before the Supreme Court of that State or Territory.
(5)
A reference in this Act, in relation to a person’s conviction of
an offence, to the commission of the offence shall, where the person is to be
taken to have been convicted of the offence by reason of
paragraph (1)(d), be read as a reference to the alleged commission of the
offence by the person.
(6)
This section does not apply to a foreign serious offence.