Every Australian state or territory has laws that limit the release of some older offences. It's usually 10 years for offences committed as an adult, and 5 years for offences committed as a child.
This is known as the 'waiting period' or 'crime-free period'.
If you offend during that period, it starts again. This means you need to be crime-free for the full waiting period before your older offences are considered 'spent'.
In general, your National Police Certificate (NPC) won't disclose any spent convictions. But there are exceptions.
Some Australian states and territories might exclude some purposes of an NPC from their spent convictions laws. These purposes include working:
Other purposes that may be exempt from spent convictions laws include:
For these reasons, your certificate may disclose details of older convictions or guilty findings.
Exceptions may also apply in some instances in relation to the type of offence, such as sexual offences.
Each state or territory policing service will follow its own release policy and local laws when disclosing any offences.
The process will happen automatically in most states and territories if an offence is spent. You don't need to contact us or take any action.
However, if the offence happened in Western Australia (WA), you'll need to apply to the WA Police to have it spent. Scroll to 'spent convictions' on the WA Police website.
We release information for NPC checks under either Australian Capital Territory (ACT) or Commonwealth legislation. This depends on the:
It's against the law to access, disclose or take into account spent convictions of Commonwealth offences.
Under the Commonwealth Spent Convictions Scheme, a 'spent conviction' is a Commonwealth, territory, state or foreign conviction that satisfies all of the following:
If your conviction is spent, you don't have to disclose it to anyone, including a Commonwealth authority, unless an exclusion applies.
If you disclose such information, it can't be taken into account. For example, if you say something in a job interview, your prospective employer can't use it to assess your suitability for the job.
Under ACT legislation, your conviction is automatically spent after:
The period starts from either the date:
If you aren't sentenced to imprisonment or a control order, it starts from the date of your conviction.
Some convictions are never spent. These include convictions:
If your conviction is spent, you don't have to disclose it unless an exclusion applies.
It's an offence for someone to disclose information regarding spent convictions without your consent.
This means it's against the law for someone:
Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), information about your criminal record is sensitive.
Read more information about your right to non-disclosure of spent convictions from the