Section 249 — Migration Act 1958 (Cth)

(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.

Related sections

• s 246 — Appointment of boarding stations
• s 247 — Vessels to enter ports and be brought to boarding stations
• s 248 — Exemption
• s 250 — Detention of suspected offenders
• s 251 — Powers of entry and search
• s 251A — Searches of detainees etc.—prohibited things

Research how courts apply s 249

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