Spent Convictions in Australia: The Commonwealth Rule and How States Differ

Spent-conviction law in Australia is not uniform. The Commonwealth's Crimes Act 1914 sets a 30-month never-spent threshold for Commonwealth offences, but South Australia's own Spent Convictions Act 2009 uses a materially lower 12-month adult and 24-month juvenile threshold, and several other states use different mechanisms again.

This article addresses when a criminal conviction becomes "spent", meaning it no longer needs to be disclosed and generally will not appear on an ordinary police check, across the Commonwealth and each Australian state and territory. It does not tell a reader whether their own specific conviction is, or will become, spent; the rules and thresholds below are general and the outcome for any individual record depends on facts this article cannot assess.

The Commonwealth Rule: A 30-Month Ceiling and "Designated Offences"

The Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 Part VIIC sets the rule for Commonwealth offences. Section 85ZL fixes the waiting period before a conviction can become spent at 10 years for an adult, or 5 years if the person was dealt with as a minor. Section 85ZM(2)(b) then caps eligibility by sentence: a conviction is only capable of becoming spent if the person was not sentenced to imprisonment, or was sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 30 months. A sentence exceeding 30 months can never become spent under this scheme, regardless of how much time has passed. A separate category, a "designated offence" under section 85ZL, meaning a sexual offence or any offence against a person where the victim was under 18, sits outside the ordinary machinery altogether. Where a conviction does become spent, section 85ZV creates a right of non-disclosure, subject to exceptions set out in Division 6 of the Act.

Spent Convictions by State: Thresholds and Mechanisms Differ

The table below sets out what is confirmed against each jurisdiction's own Act. Where a jurisdiction's specific numeric threshold has not been independently confirmed for this article, that is stated rather than guessed.

Writing "sentences over 30 months can never be spent" as a rule that applies everywhere in Australia is wrong. It is the Commonwealth's rule, materially different from South Australia's much lower thresholds, and different again in mechanism from Western Australia's court-application model.

South Australia's Lower Threshold

South Australia's Spent Convictions Act 2009 defines an "eligible adult offence" as one where any sentence of imprisonment imposed was 12 months or less, and an "eligible juvenile offence" as one where the sentence was 24 months or less. A sentence beyond either threshold falls outside the "eligible" category entirely and cannot become spent under the Act. South Australia's own government guidance states this plainly: some convictions are never spent, including sex offences and sentences beyond the 12-month adult or 24-month juvenile thresholds. Where an offence is eligible, a further qualification period must also elapse before it becomes spent: five years for an eligible juvenile offence, ten years for an eligible adult offence.

Victoria's Broader Exclusion

Victoria's Spent Convictions Act 2021 excludes any conviction meeting its definition of a "serious conviction" from ever becoming spent automatically, and that definition reaches further than a sentence-length test alone: it covers a sentence with a custodial term of more than 30 months, a conviction for a sexual offence, or a conviction for a serious violence offence, with the latter two excluded regardless of the sentence actually imposed. Victoria separately makes it an offence, carrying a penalty of 40 penalty units, for a person with access to conviction records to disclose information about a spent conviction without authorisation.

Queensland: An Offence-Neutral Threshold, Overridden for Blue Card Purposes

Queensland's Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 sets its rehabilitation period using the same offence-neutral mechanism as the Commonwealth: a conviction is only eligible for a rehabilitation period, the equivalent of becoming spent, if no term of imprisonment was imposed, or the term imposed was no more than 30 months. The Act itself contains no separate, blanket exclusion specific to sexual offences. However, Queensland's Working with Children Check Act 2000 states at section 7 that it applies "despite anything in the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986", meaning Blue Card screening for a "disqualifying offence", a category that includes sexual offences against children under the schedules to that Act, overrides whatever protection the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act would otherwise give. The practical effect for Blue Card purposes is similar to the Commonwealth's designated-offence carve-out, but it is achieved through the working with children legislation overriding the general spent-convictions Act, not through an exclusion written into the spent-convictions Act itself.

Western Australia: A Court Application, Not Automatic Lapsing

Western Australia's Spent Convictions Act 1988 works differently from every other jurisdiction covered here. A "serious conviction", defined as a sentence of more than one year's imprisonment or a fine of $15,000 or more, does not become spent automatically at all. The person must apply to a District Court judge, who has discretion whether to declare the conviction spent, weighing factors including the sentence, the time elapsed, the effect on the person's employment prospects, the nature and seriousness of the offence, and the public interest. A "lesser conviction" is not fully automatic either; it requires an application, but to the Police Commissioner rather than a court, and the Commissioner has no discretion to refuse a certificate that meets the Act's criteria. Neither category in Western Australia lapses on its own the way the Commonwealth and most other states' schemes do.

Spent Convictions Can Still Surface for Child, Disability and Aged-Care Screening

A spent conviction being removed from an ordinary employment police check does not mean it disappears from every kind of screening. Commonwealth law builds an exception for this into Division 6 of Part VIIC, permitting disclosure to prescribed screening agencies for certain purposes. South Australia's own guidance states the position directly: spent convictions "can be included for checks of people working or volunteering with children, people with disability, vulnerable people, or in the aged care sector." This is why a spent conviction can still be a live consideration for a working with children or vulnerable people clearance even though it would not appear on, or affect, an ordinary job-related police check.

This article provides general legal information about spent-convictions law across Australia, verified 21 July 2026. It does not assess whether any individual reader's own conviction is, or will become, spent. For advice on your situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory.

Related reading: the background checks hub, national police checks in Australia, criminal record and employment rights in Australia, and the Blue Card in Queensland.