Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PASSPORTS AMENDMENT ACT 1979 No. 103, 1979 - SECT 9

9. (1) Section 8 of the Principal Act is amended-

(a) by omitting from sub-section (1) ''One hundred dollars or imprisonment
for three months'' and substituting ''Imprisonment for 1 year'';

   (b)  by inserting after sub-section (1) the following sub-section:

''(1A) Without limiting the generality of sub-section (1), the Minister, or
an officer authorized by the Minister to act under this section, may cancel an
Australian passport if-

   (a)  the Minister or the officer, as the case may be, becomes aware of
        circumstances which, if they had existed immediately before the
        passport was issued, may have or would have prevented the issue of the
        passport by an authorized officer by virtue of the operation of
        section 7A, 7B, 7C or 7D; or

   (b)  the Minister or the officer, as the case may be, becomes aware that
        the passport has been lost or stolen.'';

   (c)  by omitting from sub-section (2) ''vise H ,'' (wherever occurring);

   (d)  by omitting from sub-section (3) ''vise H ,'';

   (e)  by omitting from sub-section (3) ''One hundred dollars or imprisonment
        for 3 months'' and substituting ''Imprisonment for 1 year''; and

   (f)  by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:

''(4) The exercise by an officer of a power of cancellation under this section
is subject to any directions of the Minister.''.

(2) Notwithstanding the amendments made by paragraphs (1) (c) and (d)-

   (a)  any vise H granted in pursuance of the Passports Act 1938 as in force
        at any time before the commencement of this section or in pursuance of
        the Act repealed by the Passports Act 1938 may be cancelled by the
        Minister, or by an officer authorized in that behalf by the Minister,
        and thereupon the vise H shall be void; and

   (b)  any officer may take possession of any passport bearing a vise H that
        has been cancelled under paragraph (a) or under the Passports Act 1938
        and any person having in his possession or under his control any such
        passport shall, on demand by an officer, forthwith deliver it up to
        the officer.

(3) A person who contravenes paragraph (2) (b) shall be deemed, for the
purposes of the Passports Act 1938, to have committed an offence against that
Act that is punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for a period not
exceeding 1 year.