Parliament Act 2025

Parliamentary security - Powers and duties of parliamentary security officers - Item handed over gives officer reasonable grounds to believe person may recently have committed, or be about to commit, specified offence

173: Power to seize detected item connected to specified offence

You could also call this:

"Security officers can take items from you if they think you might commit a crime"

If you hand over an item to a parliamentary security officer, they might think you have committed or are about to commit a crime. This could happen if you do not give a good reason for having the item. The officer can then take the item from you. The officer can also stop you from entering the parliamentary area or ask you to leave. They can do this if they think you have or are about to commit a crime and you do not have a good reason for having the item. You can read more about the officer's power to seize items in section 178(1) and their power to detain people or deny them entry in section 178(2)(a) or (b).

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1028292.

This page was last updated on 25 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Police and safetyGovernment and voting > Government departments

172: Powers if person does not hand over detected item, or

"What happens if you don't hand over something you're not allowed to have in Parliament"

174: Power to ask person to surrender detected item, or

"What happens if a parliamentary security officer asks you to hand over a suspicious item"

Part 7Parliamentary security
Powers and duties of parliamentary security officers: Item handed over gives officer reasonable grounds to believe person may recently have committed, or be about to commit, specified offence

173Power to seize detected item connected to specified offence

This section applies if—
a person complies with a request under section 171(1) to hand over a detected item; and
the item handed over gives the parliamentary security officer reasonable grounds to believe that the person—
1. may recently have committed a specified offence; or
2. may be about to commit such an offence; and
the person does not give the officer a reasonable excuse for being in possession of the item.

The parliamentary security officer—
may exercise the power in section 178(1) (which relates to the power to seize an item) and, if the officer chooses to exercise that power, the power in section 178(2)(a) or (b) (which relates to the power to detain the person or to deny them entry to, or remove them from, the parliamentary precincts); or
may deny the person entry to, or remove the person from, the parliamentary precincts.

Compare

1999 No 115 s 16(1)(a), (2)