Crimes Act 1958

A police officer executing a warrant issued under section 465 in relation to warrant premises is authorised to break open or unlock any receptacle in or on the warrant premises as is reasonably necessary for conducting a search under the warrant.

For the purposes of subsection (1), the police officer executing the warrant is authorised to take any action that is reasonably necessary—

to determine whether the receptacle is, or contains, a thing that may be seized; or

to determine whether the receptacle is, or contains, a thing that may pose a hazard to a person; or

to assess or remove any thing in the receptacle that may pose a hazard to a person; or

to deal with the receptacle or any thing in the receptacle to prevent any hazard or mitigate the risk of any hazard to a person.

A police officer executing a warrant issued under section 465 in relation to warrant premises is authorised to move a receptacle to another place, for up to 7 business days, for examination to determine whether the receptacle is, or contains, a thing that may be seized under the warrant, if—

it is significantly more practicable to do so having regard to the following—

the timeliness;

the cost of examining the receptacle at another place;

the availability of expert assistance;

the safety of a person at the warrant premises during the execution of the warrant; and

there are reasonable grounds to suspect the receptacle is, or contains, a thing that may be seized under the warrant.

In this section—