South Australian Consolidated Acts

LISTENING AND SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ACT 1972 - SECT 7

7—Lawful use of listening device by party to private conversation

        (1)         Section 4 does not apply to or in relation to the use of a listening device by a person (including a person to whom a warrant is issued under this Act) where that listening device is used—

            (a)         to overhear, record, monitor or listen to any private conversation to which that person is a party; and

            (b)         in the course of duty of that person, in the public interest or for the protection of the lawful interests of that person.

        (2)         An exemption from section 4 that applies under subsection (1) to—

            (a)         a member of the police force; or

            (b)         a member of the Board of the ACC; or

            (c)         a member of the staff of the ACC who is a member of the Australian Federal Police or of the police force of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth,

in relation to the use of a listening device for the purposes of the investigation of a matter by the police or the ACC extends to any other such member who overhears, records, monitors or listens to the private conversation by means of that device for the purposes of that investigation.

        (3)         A person must not knowingly communicate or publish information or material derived from the use (whether by that person or another person) of a listening device under this section except—

            (a)         to a person who was a party to the conversation to which the information or material relates; or

            (b)         with the consent of each party to the conversation to which the information or material relates; or

            (c)         in the course of duty or in the public interest, including, in the case of information or material derived from the use of a listening device in the course of an investigation by the police or the ACC, for the purposes of a relevant investigation or a relevant proceeding; or

            (d)         being a party to the conversation to which the information or material relates, as reasonably required for the protection of the person's lawful interests; or

            (e)         where the information or material has been taken or received in public as evidence in a relevant proceeding.

Maximum penalty: $10 000 or imprisonment for 2 years.