Clause 79

to investigate the commission of an offence under this Act; or

to carry out an investigation under Part 5.

without warrant enter, inspect, and search during regular business hours any premises or conveyance used or proposed to be used, or in respect of which there is reasonable cause to believe are being used, by any person for the purpose of carrying out, or purporting to carry out, the practice of veterinary medicine;

inspect or examine any animal (whether living or dead), object or thing or observe any activity conducted in or on the premises or conveyance;

take a sample —

from any animal (whether living or dead) in or on the premises or conveyance, with the consent of the owner of the animal; or

of any thing that is or has been in contact with, or in the vicinity of, the animal;

make a still or moving image or recording of the premises or conveyance and any animal (whether living or dead), object or thing in or on the premises or conveyance;

inspect any document in or on the premises or conveyance and take any extract from, or make any copy of, the document;

take into or onto the premises or conveyance any equipment and material that the investigator requires for the purpose of exercising any power in relation to the premises or conveyance;

operate any electronic equipment in or on the premises or conveyance;

take into custody —

any animal (whether living or dead), with the consent of the owner of the animal, which the investigator reasonably believes to be the subject matter of, or connected with, an investigation mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b); or

any object or thing in the premises or conveyance which the investigator reasonably believes to be the subject matter of, or connected with, an investigation mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b); and

in respect of a dead animal taken into custody under paragraph (h)(i) — conduct, with the consent of the owner of the animal, a post‑mortem examination on the body of the dead animal for the purposes of —

determining the cause of the death of that animal; or

investigating the extent of any disease suffered by that animal prior to its death.

examine orally any person apparently acquainted with any facts and circumstances relevant to the matter under investigation;

require any person apparently acquainted with any facts and circumstances relevant to the matter under investigation to attend at the time and place specified in a written notice served on the person;

require any person whom the investigator has reason to believe has any document or information relevant to the matter under investigation to produce the document or provide the information, within a reasonable period specified by the investigator; and

require any person to present or produce any object or thing, which may be in the person’s custody or possession and which may be related to or connected with the subject matter of the investigation, for inspection or examination by the investigator.

to use a disk, tape or other storage device that is in or on the premises or conveyance and can be used with the equipment or in association with the equipment;

to operate the electronic equipment to put the relevant data in documentary form and remove any document so produced from the premises or conveyance; and

to operate the electronic equipment to transfer the relevant data to a disk, tape or other storage device that —

is brought to the premises or conveyance for the exercise of the power; or

is in or on the premises or conveyance and the use of which for that purpose has been agreed in writing by the occupier of the premises or conveyance,and to remove the disk, tape or other storage device from those premises or that conveyance.

to require that person, or any person who is or was an officer or employee of that person, to provide an explanation of the document or information;

if the document is not produced or information is not provided, to require that person to state, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, where it is; and

if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the investigator in legible form.

be reduced to writing;

be read over to the person;

if the person does not understand English, be interpreted in a language that the person understands; and

after correction (if necessary), be signed by the person.

the Registrar;

if the disciplinary case is brought after the expiry of the applicable period mentioned in section 42(1) or (2) — the appointed member mentioned in section 43 for the disciplinary case;

any member of the Complaints Panel who assisted the Registrar in reviewing the disciplinary case under section 44(2)(a);

if a Complaints Assessment Committee, a Disciplinary Committee or an Interim Orders Committee has conducted or is conducting an inquiry, a formal inquiry or a review (as the case may be) in respect of the disciplinary case under Part 5 — any member of that Committee;

any member of the Council who participated in or influenced the Council’s decision —

to bring, as the complainant, the disciplinary case under section 41(3);

to make a referral, take an action or give a direction mentioned in section 75(1) for the continuation of a disciplinary case despite the withdrawal of the disciplinary case; or

taken under section 46(1), 51(1) or (4) or 52(4), (5) or (7) on the disciplinary case.

wilfully obstructs or delays an investigator in the exercise of any power under subsection (2) or (3);

fails to comply with any requisition or order of an investigator under subsection (3);

knowingly gives a false answer to any question put to the person by an investigator; or

knowingly gives any document, information or material to an investigator that is false or misleading, or that omits any matter or thing without which the document, information or material is misleading,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $50 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.

to take a swab from the animal or of any part of the animal;

to take a sample of any part of the animal; or

to take a sample of any urine, faeces, blood or other article or substance from, or which has been in contact with, the animal.