Section 197A — Migration Act 1958 (Cth)

Detainees must not escape from detention

A detainee must not escape from immigration detention.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 May 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Verify the current text against the official source before relying on it.

Related sections

s 197AE — Minister not under duty to consider whether to exercise powers
s 197AF — Minister to exercise powers personally
s 197AG — Tabling of information relating to the making of residence determinations
s 197B — Manufacture, possession etc. of weapons by detainees
s 197C — Relevance of Australia’s non‑refoulement obligations to removal of unlawful non‑citizens under section 198
s 197D — Decision that protection finding would no longer be made

Research how courts apply s 197A

BriefBridge searches Australian caselaw by meaning — every answer cited to the paragraph.

Try BriefBridge free