New South Wales Consolidated Acts

TERRORISM (POLICE POWERS) ACT 2002 - SECT 26ZH

26ZH Special contact rules for person under 18 or incapable of managing own affairs

(1) This section applies if the person being detained under a preventative detention order:

(a) is under 18 years of age, or

(b) is incapable of managing his or her affairs.

(2) The person is entitled, while being detained under the order, to have contact with:

(a) a parent or guardian of the person, or

(b) another person who:

(i) is able to represent the person’s interests, and

(ii) is, as far as practicable in the circumstances, acceptable to the person and to the police officer who is detaining the person, and

(iii) is not a police officer, and

(iv) is not an AFP member or AFP employee (within the meaning of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 of the Commonwealth), and

(v) is not a member (however described) of a police force of any other State or Territory, and

(vi) is not an officer or employee of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

(3) To avoid doubt:

(a) if the person being detained (the "detainee") has 2 parents or 2 or more guardians, the detainee is entitled, subject to any prohibited contact order, to have contact under subsection (2) with each of those parents or guardians, and

(b) the detainee is entitled to disclose the following to a person with whom the detainee has contact under subsection (2):

(i) the fact that a preventative detention order has been made in relation to the detainee,

(ii) the fact that the detainee is being detained,

(iii) the period for which the detainee is being detained.

(4) The form of contact that the detainee is entitled to have with another person under subsection (2) includes:

(a) being visited by that other person, and

(b) communicating with that other person by telephone, fax or email.

(5) The period for which the detainee is entitled to have contact with another person each day under subsection (2) is:

(a) 2 hours, or

(b) such longer period as the Supreme Court determines and specifies in the preventative detention order.

(6) Despite subsection (5), the police officer who is detaining the person may permit the detainee to have contact with a person under subsection (2) for a period that is longer than the period provided for in subsection (5).