43 Prohibition on use of listening devices
(1) A person is guilty of an offence against this Act if the person
uses a listening device to overhear, record, monitor or listen to
[s 43]
Invasion of Privacy Act 1971
Part 4 Listening devices
Reprint 3A effective 14 October 2010 Page 7
a private conversation and is liable on conviction on
indictment to a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units or
imprisonment for 2 years.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply—
(a) where the person using the listening device is a party to
the private conversation; or
(b) to the unintentional hearing of a private conversation by
means of a telephone; or
(c) to or in relation to the use of any listening device by—
(i) an officer employed in the service of the
Commonwealth in relation to customs authorised
by a warrant under the hand of the
Comptroller-General of Customs under the
Customs Act 1901 (Cwlth) to use a listening device
in the performance of the officer’s duty; or
(ii) a person employed in connection with the security
of the Commonwealth when acting in the
performance of the person’s duty under an Act
passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealth
relating to the security of the Commonwealth; or
(d) to or in relation to the use of a listening device by a
police officer or another person under a provision of an
Act authorising the use of a listening device.
(3) A person referred to in subsection (2)(c) who uses a listening
device to overhear, record, monitor or listen to any private
conversation to which the person is not a party shall not
communicate or publish the substance or meaning of that
private conversation otherwise than in the performance of the
person’s duty.
(4) The court by which a person is convicted of an offence under
this section may, by its conviction, order that any listening
device used in the commission of the offence and described in
the order shall be forfeited to Her Majesty and delivered up,
within such period as may be specified in the order, by the
person who has possession of the listening device to a person
specified in the order.
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Part 4 Listening devices
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(5) If an order is made under subsection (4), the person who has
possession of the listening device must deliver up the listening
device under the order.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units.
(6) If a person contravenes subsection (5), whether or not a
proceeding for the offence has started, a police officer may
seize the listening device and deliver it up under the order.
