Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000

An authority to conduct a controlled operation may not be granted unless the chief executive officer is satisfied on reasonable grounds—

that a relevant offence has been, is being, or is likely to be committed; and

that the nature and extent of the suspected criminal activity justifies the conduct of a controlled operation—

in this jurisdiction; or

in this jurisdiction and a participating jurisdiction, if the controlled operation will be or is likely to be conducted in those jurisdictions; and

that any unlawful conduct involved in conducting the operation will be limited to the maximum extent consistent with conducting an effective controlled operation; and

that the operation will be conducted in a way that will minimise the risk of more illicit goods being under the control of persons, other than law enforcement officers, at the end of the operation than are reasonably necessary to enable the officers to achieve the purpose of the controlled operation; and

that the proposed controlled conduct will be capable of being accounted for in a way that will enable the reporting requirements of part 5 to be complied with; and

that the operation will not be conducted in a way that makes it likely for a person to be induced to commit an offence against a law of any jurisdiction or the Commonwealth that the person would not otherwise have intended to commit; and

that any conduct involved in the operation will not—

seriously endanger the health or safety of any person; or

cause the death of, or serious injury to, any person; or

involve the commission of a sexual offence against any person; or

result in serious loss of or serious damage to property, other than illicit goods; and

that any role given to a civilian participant in the operation is not one that could be adequately performed by a law enforcement officer; and

that any proposed participant in the operation has received appropriate training for the purpose.

Also, the chief executive officer must not grant authority for a controlled operation unless the committee has recommended that the authority be granted.

For subsection (1)(g)(iii), the following conduct does not involve the commission of a sexual offence against a person—

possessing, distributing or editing material that depicts a sexual offence;Example—administering a website or chat group used by members to share materials that depict sexual offences

producing material that appears to depict a sexual offence provided the material does not depict a real person;Examples—

communicating with a person suspected of—

committing, or having committed, a sexual offence; or

seeking to commit a sexual offence; or

offering to engage in conduct that would constitute a sexual offence; or

enabling another person to engage in conduct that would constitute a sexual offence.

In this section—chat group means a group of persons using electronic communication to communicate within the group, regardless of whether the service used for the communication is intended to be primarily used for that purpose.Examples of services used to host chat groups—instant messaging services, email or computer gamesdistributing see the Criminal Code, section 207A, definition distribute.material see the Criminal Code, section 207A.