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In Victoria Australia, this piece of legislation exists:

PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS ACT 2001 - SECT 16

An authorised officer may direct a person to leave or not to enter the Parliamentary precincts if the authorised officer believes on reasonable grounds that the direction is necessary for the good order and security of the Parliamentary precincts.

My question is, under Victorian or relevant Australian law, what constitutes "reasonable grounds" and what does "good order" mean?

My other question is, can this law be used in a preemptive manner in that an "authorised officer" may give directions based on the past behaviour of the directee in unrelated circumstances outside of parliamentary grounds?

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It has a common meaning across Australia

“Reasonable grounds” requires the existence of facts which are sufficient to induce that state of mind (e.g. belief, suspicion) in a reasonable person (George v Rockett (1990) 170 CLR 104; Walsh v Loughnan [1991] 2 VR 351).

So, the officer must have the state of mind "that the direction is necessary for the good order and security of the Parliamentary precincts" and that a reasonable person in their position would also have arrived at that state of mind.

“Good order” means able to function normally.

The directive can clearly be preemptive because the instruction can be to "not enter".

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    What is "good order" the opposite of "disorder"?
    – Jasen
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 12:03
  • In the last resort, "reasonable grounds" are whatever a jury thinks are the normal English meaning of the word "reasonable".
    – alephzero
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 15:41
  • Thank you for your answer Dale, would you be able to update it based on the edit I made to my last question? Thank you.
    – Rstew
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 15:44
  • "Good order" means that Australia trusts its police to do the right thing a whole lot more than the Americans do, and always has.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Feb 20, 2021 at 0:34

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