overview
framework
principles
coherence
1988 Act
other law
2000 Act
states
codes
money
media
health
genetic
adoption
policing
justice
crimes
homes
workplace
retail
venues
politics
cases 1
cases 2
landmarks
related
Guides:
Privacy
Secrecy
Censorship
related
Profiles:
Human
Rights
Australian
Constitution
& Cyberspace
Credit
Reporting
Australia
Card
Registers
100 Points
Scheme
Intelligence
agencies
|
homes
This page consider privacy in relation to dwelling-places,
including access to premises by police, observation by
neighbours and surveillance in hotels or other places
of transient accommodation.
It covers -
introduction
Most Australians appear to assume that the family home
- leased, part-owned or fully-owned - is sacrosanct, a
zone enjoying special privacy protection and indeed providing
the model for privacy pretection once the residents venture
out into the world.
That assumption is encapsulated in the aphorism that a
man's home is his castle (women presumably loiter, Rapunzel-like,
rather than manning the drawbridge). It reflects UK common
law, with Lord Camden famously commenting in Entick
v Carrington [1765] that
By
the law of England every invasion of private property,
be it ever so minute, is a trespass. No man can set
foot upon my ground without my licence, but he is liable
to an action though the damage be nothing
In
practice domestic privacy, like the defences provided
by moats and machiolations, is not absolute.
Police for example have been held to have an implied right,
along with members of the public coming to a house on
lawful business, to walk to the front door and request
admittance (being allowed a reasonable time to leave the
premises before becoming a trespasser). Police may also
enter premises for reasons such as executing a search
warrant, saving life & limb or preventing serious
damage to property. Other people may have a statutory
or common law right of access to domestic or other premises,
eg in relation to environmental damage under some state
environment protection legislation.
Australian law, like that in the UK, does not necessarily
protect people from what can be seen from the street
- discussion elsewhere on this site notes that the most
effective protection is often provided by closed doors
and drawn blinds, rather than recourse to a non-existant
tort of privacy - or from overhead
(eg an aerial photo or gaze from a balloon) or adjoining
premises.
One point of reference is the UK regime, discussed by
Richard Stone in The Law of Entry, Search and Seizure
(Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 2005) and in Harry Snook's polemical
study
Crossing the Threshold: 266 Ways the State Can Enter
Your Home.
The latter for example notes statutory access under the
UK Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition and Inspection)
Act, Diseases of Fish Act, Scrap Metal
Dealers Act, Slaughterhouses Act, Hypnotism
Act and Performing Animals (Regulation) Act.
HM Revenue & Customs may enter without a warrant if
serious trafficking is suspected. Nongovernment gas and
electricity companies may enter immediately in emergency;
the Fire Brigade may force entry to fight fires. Local
authorities, with 24 hours' notice, can inspect for rats
and mice and after a warning can enter to seize equipment
at night under noise abatement schemes. Handily, they
can enter and switch off continuously sounding burglar
alarms. Officials can inspect and order work to be done
on trees and high hedges. The Compulsory Purchase
Act 1965 and Local Government (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976 provide for mandatory access
by officials for survey and property inspection purposes,
subject to 14 days' notice.
next page (workplace)
|
|
Ketupa