Section 197B — Migration Act 1958 (Cth)

Manufacture, possession etc. of weapons by detainees

(1) A detainee commits an offence if he or she manufactures, possesses, uses or distributes a weapon.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.

(2) In this section:

weapon includes:

(a) a thing made or adapted for use for inflicting bodily injury; or

(b) a thing where the detainee who has the thing intends or threatens to use the thing, or intends that the thing be used, to inflict bodily injury.

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 197AF — Minister to exercise powers personally
s 197AG — Tabling of information relating to the making of residence determinations
s 197A — Detainees must not escape from detention
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
s 197E — Relevance of Ministerial intervention powers to removal of unlawful non‑citizens under section 198

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