# Liability to the Commonwealth for the cost of keeping, maintaining and removing certain persons

> act-s262 — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

262 Liability to the Commonwealth for the cost of keeping,
           maintaining and removing certain persons
          (1) A person who:
                (a) is, or has been, detained under section 189; and
                (b) was on board a vessel (not being an aircraft) when it was
                     used in connection with the commission of an offence against
                     this Act or against a prescribed law in force in the
                     Commonwealth or in a State or Territory, being a law
                     relating to the control of fishing; and
               (ba) is convicted of the offence;
              and the master, owner, agent and charterer of the vessel on which
              the person travelled to Australia, are, jointly and severally, liable to
              pay the Commonwealth:
                (c) the amount applicable to the person under subsection (2) for
                     the cost of keeping and maintaining the person while the
                     person is in immigration detention; and
                (d) the cost of transporting the person, and a person holding the
                     person, from the vessel to the place of immigration detention;
                     and
                (e) the cost of transporting the person, and a person holding the
                     person, between places of immigration detention; and
                 (f) if the person is returned to the vessel or another vessel—the
                     cost of transporting the person, and a person holding the
                     person, from the place of immigration detention to the vessel
                     or that other vessel; and
                (g) if the person is, or is to be, removed from Australia at the
                     expense of the Commonwealth—the cost of that removal
                     (including the cost of transporting a person holding the
                     person).









          (2) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, determine a daily
              amount for the keeping and maintaining of a person in immigration
              detention at a specified place in a specified period.
          (3) An amount determined under subsection (2) is to be no more than
              the cost to the Commonwealth of detaining a person at that place in
              that period.
          (4) To avoid doubt, the liability to pay the Commonwealth an amount
              under subsection (1) may be enforced:
               (a) at the time the person is convicted of an offence mentioned in
                   paragraph (1)(b); or
               (b) after the person has served the whole or a part of any
                   sentence imposed upon the person because of his or her
                   conviction of an offence mentioned in paragraph (1)(b).