Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Where an authorized officer believes on reasonable grounds that:
(a) a person is about to depart from Australia for a foreign country;
(b) a departure prohibition order is in force in respect of the person; and
(c) the departure is not authorized by a departure authorization certificate;
the authorized officer may:
(d) take such steps as are reasonably necessary to prevent the departure of the person, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, steps to prevent the person going on board, or steps to remove the person from, a vessel or aircraft in which the authorized officer believes on reasonable grounds the departure will take place; and
(e) require the person to answer questions or produce documents to the authorized officer, or both, for the purposes of ascertaining whether:
(i) a departure prohibition order is in force in respect of the person; and
(ii) if a departure prohibition order is in force in respect of the person--the departure of the person from Australia for a foreign country is authorized by a departure authorization certificate.
(2) A person who refuses or fails, when and as required to do so pursuant to subsection (1), to answer a question or produce a document, commits an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 10 penalty units.
(2A) Subsection (2) does not apply to the extent that the person has a reasonable excuse.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2A), see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(4) Section 8C does not apply in relation to a requirement made pursuant to subsection (1) of this section.
(5) Subsection 8K(1) and (1B) and section 8N do not apply in relation to an answer given to a question asked, or a document produced, pursuant to subsection (1).