CHILD PROTECTION ACT 1999 - SECT 51AI Application by particular forms of communication and duplicate order

CHILD PROTECTION ACT 1999 - SECT 51AI

51AI Application by particular forms of communication and duplicate order

(1) An application under section 51AC may be made by phone, fax, radio or another form of communication if the authorised officer reasonably considers it necessary because of—

(a) urgent circumstances; or

(b) other special circumstances (including, for example, the officer’s remote location).

(2) The application—

(a) may not be made before the officer prepares the written application under section 51AC (2) ; but

(b) may be made before the written application is sworn.

(3) The magistrate may make the order (the
"original order" ) only if the magistrate is satisfied—

(a) it was necessary to make the application under subsection (1) ; and

(b) the way the application was made under subsection (1) was appropriate.

(4) After the magistrate makes the original order—

(a) if there is a reasonably practicable way of immediately giving a copy of the order to the officer (for example, by sending a copy by fax), the magistrate must immediately give a copy of the order to the officer; or

(b) otherwise—

(i) the magistrate must tell the officer the date and time the order was made and the other terms of the order; and

(ii) the officer must complete a form of the order, including by writing on it—

(A) the magistrate’s name; and

(B) the date and time the magistrate made the order; and

(C) the other terms of the order.

(5) The copy of the order mentioned in subsection (4) (a) , or the form of the order completed under subsection (4) (b) , (in either case the
"duplicate order" ) is a duplicate of, and as effectual as, the original order.

(6) The officer must, at the first reasonable opportunity, send to the magistrate—

(a) the written application complying with section 51AC (2) and (3) ; and

(b) if the officer completed a form of the order under subsection (4) (b) —the completed form of the order.

(7) The magistrate must keep the original order and, on receiving the documents under subsection (6) —

(a) attach the documents to the original order; and

(b) give the original order and documents to the clerk of the court of the relevant magistrates court.

(8) Despite subsection (7) , if—

(a) an issue arises in a proceeding about whether an exercise of a power was authorised by an order made under this section; and

(b) the original order is not produced in evidence;

the onus of proof is on the person relying on the lawfulness of the exercise of the power to prove an order authorised the exercise of the power.