Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

MIGRATION ACT 1958 - SECT 249

             (1)  An officer may:

                     (a)  prevent a person whom the officer reasonably suspects to be an unlawful non-citizen from leaving a vessel on which the person arrived in Australia; or

                     (b)  prevent a removee or deportee from leaving a vessel on which he or she has been placed;

and may take such action and use such force as are necessary for that purpose.

       (1AA)  An officer may prevent a person from leaving a vessel on which the person arrived in Australia if the officer reasonably suspects that the person:

                     (a)  is seeking to enter the migration zone; and

                     (b)  would, if in the migration zone, be an unlawful non-citizen.

          (1A)  To avoid doubt, and without limiting the generality of subsections (1) and (1AA), if a person of a kind referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or subsection (1AA) is on board a vessel (other than an aircraft), the actions that may be taken by an officer under subsections (1) and (1AA) include:

                     (a)  requiring the vessel to travel to a port; and

                     (b)  requiring the person to remain on the vessel until it arrives at the port.

             (2)  The master of a vessel may, in relation to persons on board the vessel, do all things which an officer is, under subsections (1) and (1AA), authorized to do.