Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsAfter section 27(6) of the Principal Act insert —
"(7) Subject to subsection (8), a police officer may take the fingerprints or a fingerscan under subsection (1) of a registrable offender whose reporting obligations under this Act—
(a) have been suspended under Division 6 of Part 3; or
(b) have been suspended under section 32(1)(b); or
(c) have expired under section 34(1)—
only if a notice under subsection (3) has been served on the registrable offender.
(8) A registrable offender referred to in subsection (7) may refuse to have fingerprints or a fingerscan taken and to attend at a police station in compliance with a notice under subsection (3) if the registrable offender demonstrates to the reasonable satisfaction of the police officer referred to in subsection (3)—
(a) if the registrable offender was a registrable offender on the commencement of the initial period, that the registrable offender has been resident in Victoria for not less than 2 years and 6 months in aggregate during the initial period; or
(b) that the registrable offender has been resident in Victoria for a continuous period of 12 months at any time after the expiry of the initial period and was a registrable offender during the whole of that period of 12 months.
(9) A person serving a notice under subsection (3) on a registrable offender referred to in subsection (7) must inform the registrable offender, in a manner likely to be understood by the offender, of the following matters—
(a) that the offender may refuse to comply with the notice;
(b) the grounds on which the offender may refuse to comply; and
(c) that the offender may wish to seek legal advice as to the effect of the notice.
(10) A police officer referred to in subsection (8) must take into account any information provided by the registrable offender.
(11) Before a registrable offender referred to in subsection (7) has fingerprints or a fingerscan taken, a police officer must, in a manner likely to be understood by the offender—
(a) inform the offender of the grounds on which the offender may refuse to have fingerprints or a fingerscan taken; and
(b) ask the offender whether the offender wishes to refuse.
(12) If a registrable offender does not have a knowledge of the English language that is sufficient to enable the person to understand the matters referred to in subsection (9) or (11), the person informing the offender must arrange for the presence of a competent interpreter and defer the giving of the information until the interpreter is present.
(13) In this section—
"initial period" means the period of 3 years commencing on the day on which section 19 of the Sex Offenders Registration Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2017 comes into operation.".