Australian Laws

razorburn

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Mar 26, 2007
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I was wondering about taking a trip to Sydney but I heard that even a normal swiss (Victorinox Rucksack)army knife is illegal to carry around. Is this true? Are there all right bans on all pocket knives like in England?
 
You can carry a knife with a reasonable sized blade (under 75 mm) as long as you can justify why you have it.
You are unlikely to be stopped and searched unless you are involved in an assault or fight.
If you are Camping or Fishing or even using the Knife to peel your Fruit you would be ok.
Leave any knife in your checked in Luggage when flying obviously.
The laws here appear strict but the reality is common sense is applied unless you are a troublemaker.
 
You can carry a knife with a reasonable sized blade (under 75 mm) as long as you can justify why you have it.
You are unlikely to be stopped and searched unless you are involved in an assault or fight.
If you are Camping or Fishing or even using the Knife to peel your Fruit you would be ok.
Leave any knife in your checked in Luggage when flying obviously.
The laws here appear strict but the reality is common sense is applied unless you are a troublemaker.

So it's not illegal to carry a pocket knife in public in the Sydney.So I assume there is 3'' knife limit that's written in stone but what's a valid reason to have a knife.Because I hate opening packages with my teeth or worse my keys.

The reason ,I ask is that a couple of years ago I had family visiting from Australia(one of them was a prison guard) was totally shocked that I had a Swiss Army knife.They said that they could arrest me in Australia just for having that knife.
 
You can carry a Swiss army knife mate.
There are laws concerning carrying knives but it is up to the Police how they apply them.
There is a world of difference between opening a letter with a SAK and carrying a Switchblade in a Night Club.


The Government has also introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Police and Public Safety) Act 1998 to further amend the Summary Offences Act 1998 to make it an offence for a person to have custody of a knife in a public place or a school without a reasonable excuse and to give police officers powers for public protection in public places and schools.


The Act specifies a number of reasonable excuses for having custody of a knife. This does not limit any other reasonable excuse that a person might have although self defence or defence of another person is not a reasonable excuse for having custody of a knife.
Under the Act it is a reasonable excuse for a person to have custody of a knife, if the custody is reasonably necessary in all circustances for any of the following:-

o lawful pursuit of the person's occupation
o preparation or consumption of food or drink
o participation in a lawful entertainment, recreation or sport
o exhibition of knives for retail or other trade purposes
o organised exhibition by knife collectors
o wearing of an official uniform
o genuine relgious purposes

or during travel to or from or incidental to any of these activities

 
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