Migration Act 1958

An officer may request that a person about to enter an immigration detention facility operated by or on behalf of the Commonwealth do one or more of the following:

walk through screening equipment;

allow an officer to pass hand‑held screening equipment over or around the person or around things in the person’s possession;

allow things in the person’s possession to pass through screening equipment or to be examined by X‑ray.

An officer may make a request to a person under subsection (1) whether or not, before making the request, the officer has any suspicion that there is in the person’s possession a thing mentioned in subsection (3).

Screening equipment means a metal detector or similar device for detecting objects or particular substances.

An authorised officer may request that a person do something under subsection (4) if the person is about to enter an immigration detention facility operated by or on behalf of the Commonwealth, and the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that there is in the person’s possession:

a thing that:

might endanger the safety of the detainees, staff or other persons at the facility; or

might disrupt the order or security arrangements at the facility; or

a prohibited thing.

A request may be made under subsection (4) that a person do something whether or not a request is also made under subsection (1) that the person do something.

An authorised officer may request that the person do one or more of the following:

allow the authorised officer to inspect the things in the person’s possession;

remove some or all of the person’s outer clothing such as a coat, jacket or similar item;

remove items from the pockets of the person’s clothing;

open a thing in the person’s possession, or remove the thing’s contents, to allow the authorised officer to inspect the thing or its contents;

leave a thing in the person’s possession, or some or all of its contents, in a place specified by the authorised officer, if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the thing or anything in its contents:

might endanger the safety of the detainees, staff or other persons at the immigration detention facility; or

might disrupt the order or security arrangements at the facility; or

is a prohibited thing.

Subject to subsections (6) and (6A), a person who leaves a thing (including any of its contents) in a place specified by an authorised officer is entitled to its return when the person leaves the immigration detention facility.

If possession of the thing, or any of those contents, by the person is unlawful under a Commonwealth law or in the State or Territory in which the immigration detention facility is located:

the thing or the contents must not be returned to the person; and

an authorised officer must, as soon as practicable, give the thing or the contents to a constable (within the meaning of the Crimes Act 1914).

If a person leaves a prohibited thing determined under paragraph 251A(2)(b) in a place as mentioned in subsection (5) of this section, it is forfeited to the Commonwealth if an authorised officer considers on reasonable grounds, after taking all reasonable steps to return the thing to the person for the purposes of subsection (5), that:

its owner or a person who controls the thing cannot be identified; or

the thing is abandoned; or

the thing otherwise cannot be returned to the person.

Paragraph 251A(2)(b) covers the determination of a thing as a prohibited thing if the Minister is satisfied that its possession or use in an immigration detention facility might be a risk to the health, safety or security of persons in the facility, or to the order of the facility.

If a prohibited thing is forfeited under subsection (6A), the authorised officer may dispose of it in any way the officer thinks appropriate.

A person who is about to enter an immigration detention facility may be refused entry if he or she does not comply with a request under this section.