Crimes Act. Australia
and powers
Governor-General may make arrangements
(1) The Governor-General may make arrangements with:
(a) the Governor of a State (excluding the Northern Territory); and
(b) the Chief Minister for the Australian Capital Territory; and
(c) the Administrator of the Northern Territory; and
(d) the Administrator of Norfolk Island;
for the performance of functions, and the exercise of powers, that are neither judicial nor incidental to a judicial function or power, conferred by a law of the Commonwealth relating to criminal matters on:
(e) a State or Territory judge; or
(f) a magistrate; or
(g) a Justice of the Peace or other person:
(i) employed in a State or Territory court; and
(ii) authorised to issue search warrants, or warrants of arrest.
Note 1: Magistrate is defined in section 16C of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Note 2: Justice of the Peace is defined in paragraph 26(e) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Lack of arrangement does not affect validity of exercise of power or performance of function
(2) The validity of the performance of a function, or the exercise of a power, is not affected by the absence of an arrangement under this section covering the performance of the function or exercise of the power.
This section applies regardless of when Commonwealth law made
(3) This section applies to functions or powers conferred by laws made before, on or after the commencement of this section.
A law of the Commonwealth relating to criminal matters
(4) In this section, a reference to a law of the Commonwealth relating to criminal matters includes a reference to this Act.
4A Meaning of certain words
In a law of the Commonwealth, unless the contrary intention appears:
committed for trial, in relation to a person, means committed to prison with a view to the person being tried before a judge and jury, or admitted to bail upon a recognizance to appear and be so tried.
indictment includes an information and a presentment.
4AA Penalty units
(1) In a law of the Commonwealth or a Territory Ordinance, unless the contrary intention appears:
penalty unit means $110.
(2) In this section:
Territory Ordinance means an ordinance that:
(a) was made under an Act providing for the acceptance, administration or government of a Territory other than the Territory of Norfolk Island; and
(b) has not become an enactment of the Australian Capital Territory;
and includes a regulation made under such an ordinance.
4AB Conversion of pecuniary penalties expressed in dollar amounts to penalty units
(1) A reference in a law of the Commonwealth or in a Territory Ordinance to a pecuniary penalty of D dollars, where D is a number, is taken to be a reference to a pecuniary penalty of P penalty units, where P is:
(a) if D÷ 100 is a whole number — that whole number; or
(b) if D÷ 100 is not a whole number — the next nighest whole number.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a reference to the maximum amount of a penalty that is not imposed by a court, or by a service tribunal under the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to:
(a) section 76 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010; or
(c) a provision of a law of the Commonwealth prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.
(4) In this section:
penalty includes a fine.
Territory Ordinance has the same meaning as in section 4AA.
4B Pecuniary penalties — natural persons and bodies corporate
(1) A provision of a law of the Commonwealth relating to indictable offences or summary offences shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be deemed to refer to bodies corporate as well as to natural persons.
(2) Where a natural person is convicted of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth punishable by imprisonment only, the court may, if the contrary intention does not appear and the court thinks it appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, impose, instead of, or in addition to, a penalty of imprisonment, a pecuniary penalty not exceeding the number of penalty units calculated using the formula:
Term of Imprisonment × 5
where:
Term of Imprisonment is the maximum term of imprisonment, expressed in months, by which the offence is punishable.
(2A) Where a natural person is convicted of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth in respect of which a court may impose a penalty of imprisonment for life, the court may, if the contrary intention does not appear and the court thinks it appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, impose, instead of, or in addition to, a penalty of imprisonment, a pecuniary penalty not exceeding 2,000 penalty units.
(3) Where a body corporate is convicted of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, the court may, if the contrary intention does not appear and the court thinks fit, impose a pecuniary penalty not exceeding an amount equal to 5 times the amount of the maximum pecuniary penalty that could be imposed by the court on a natural person convicted of the same offence.
(3A) Where an Act (whether enacted before or after the commencement of this subsection) confers power to make an instrument (including rules, regulations or by-laws but not including a law of a Territory) and specifies the maximum pecuniary penalty that can be imposed for offences created by such an instrument, then:
(a) unless the contrary intention appears, the specified penalty is taken to be the maximum penalty that the instrument can prescribe for such offences by natural persons; and
(b) where a body corporate is convicted of such an offence — the specifying of that penalty is not to be treated as an indication of a contrary intention for the purposes of applying subsection (3).
(4) Where under a law of the Commonwealth any forfeiture, penalty or reparation is paid to a person aggrieved, it is payable to a body corporate where the body corporate is the person aggrieved.
4C Offences under 2 or more laws
(1) Where an act or omission constitutes an offence:
(a) under 2 or more laws of the Commonwealth; or
(b) both under a law of the Commonwealth and at common law;
the offender shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be liable to be prosecuted and punished under either or any of those laws of the Commonwealth or at common law, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same act or omission.
(2) Where an act or omission constitutes an offence under both:
(a) a law of the Commonwealth and a law of a State; or
(b) a law of the Commonwealth and a law of a Territory;
and the offender has been punished for that offence under the law of the State or the law of the Territory, as the case may be, the offender shall not be liable to be punished for the offence