Customs Act 1901

A person who is in a waterfront area must, at the request of an officer of Customs, produce appropriate identification for the officer’s inspection.

If a person refuses or fails to produce appropriate identification to an officer of Customs on request, the officer may, if he or she has reason to believe that the person is a member of the crew of an international ship, request the person to return to the ship forthwith to obtain that identification.

If a member of the crew of an international ship refuses or fails to produce appropriate identification to an officer of Customs, the master of the ship is taken, because of that refusal or failure, to have committed an offence against this Act.

In any proceedings for an offence against subsection (3), it is a defence if the master of the ship establishes that he or she has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that crew members:

have appropriate identification; and

understand their obligation to carry their identification in a waterfront area and to produce it to officers of Customs when requested to do so.

If:

a person refuses or fails to produce appropriate identification to an officer of Customs on request; and

the officer has no reason to believe that the person is a member of an international ship’s crew;

if the person can otherwise establish his or her identity to the satisfaction of the officer and explain his or her presence in the waterfront area—issue the person with a temporary identification; or

if the person is unable to establish his or her identity or to explain his or her presence in the waterfront area—request the person to leave the waterfront area forthwith.

For the purposes of this section, a temporary identification issued under subsection (5) has effect, until that document expires, as if it were an appropriate identification.

A person must not refuse or fail to comply with a request under subsection (2) or paragraph (5)(d).

Subsection (7) does not apply if the person has a reasonable excuse.

In this section:

if a person is a member of the crew of an international ship:

current passport; or

a document issued by the shipping company having control of the ship concerned setting out the full name and nationality of the person and the passport number or other official identification number of the person; or

a document issued by, or by an instrumentality of, the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory providing photographic identification of the person and setting out the person’s full name, address, and date of birth; and

if the person is not a member of the crew of such a ship—either:

a document issued by the employer of the person providing photographic identification of the employee; or

a document issued by, or by an instrumentality of, the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory providing photographic identification of the person and setting out the person’s full name, address, and date of birth.

that is:

a port or wharf that is appointed, and the limits of which are fixed, under section 15; or

a boarding station that is appointed under section 15; and

that is signposted so as to give persons present in the area a clear indication:

that it is an area under customs control; and

that they must not enter, or remain in, the area unless they carry appropriate identification; and

that they may be required to produce appropriate identification and, if they fail to do so, that they may be requested to leave the area.