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The powers of various law enforcement agencies to respond to any incident off Australia's coast are highly complex and varied. An incident could be one for State or Northern Territory police or other maritime officials or the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs) or the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Whatever the actual response is, it is made more complicated because it is in the maritime environment. State, Commonwealth and international law interact in a unique way to affect the role of regulatory and law enforcement agencies. The purpose of this chapter is to make some sense of the role of Commonwealth, State and Territory law enforcement agencies in Australia's offshore areas. |
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