

It is not up to you to prove your innocence by refraining from your right to silence. Silence cannot be used against you to prove your guilt, generally speaking. Can your right to silence be used against you as evidence of guilt? Refusing to do so is an offence- but any self-incriminating evidence cannot be used against the provider. For instance, in serious criminal matters, exceptional bodies such as the Australian Crime Commission and NSW Crime Commission do have the power to compel witnesses to answer questioning. Note that there are some rare exceptions to this rule.

You have the right to request this information. You are compelled by law to provide your personal details if they are requested by a police officer, however that officer must identify themself by surname, rank and identification number, as well as produce their police identification.


Basically, you cannot be compelled to incriminate yourself and you have the right to adequate legal representation. This means that you do have the right to remain silent when questioned prior to or during legal proceedings. While Australian police officers are not obligated to recite the Miranda Rights, nor does Australia even have a comparable version of them, Australians do have a fundamental legal right to silence. Do I Have a Right to Silence While Being Arrested in NSW, Australia? Miranda Rights only go into effect once the person has been arrested, and again, are exclusive to the United States of America. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. The Miranda Rights are familiar to Australians because of their ubiquitous use in Hollywood film and television, however Miranda Rights are exclusive only to the United States of America. When someone has their rights read to them, this is called being “Mirandized”. The term was taken from the 1966 Supreme Court decision which found that Ernesto Miranda’s rights were violated during his arrest. The Miranda Rights are a statement provided by police officers to people being placed under arrest. The key difference is that Australian police are not obligated by law to recite a statement of rights during an arrest, which means that it is important that you and your loved ones know your rights in the unfortunate event that you are ever taken into custody. While we do not have Miranda Rights in Australia, this does not mean that we don’t have similar rights to those arrested in the United States. “I think people use rights they see on television, which are often American rights, so unfortunately they don’t know their rights in the context in Australia, ” Murray told ABC News. In fact, Vice president of Queensland Council of Civil Liberties Angus Murray has previously stated that many Australians misunderstand their rights due to their familiarity with American rights. But while the Miranda Rights are a staple of Hollywood movies and the lives of Americans, they do not exist under Australian law, nor is there a similar counterpart. The Miranda Rights are so familiar to those of us who watch US police television shows that we can almost recite the words by memory.
