Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

REFERENDUM (MACHINERY PROVISIONS) ACT 1984 - SECT 121A

             (1)  A person commits an offence if:

                     (a)  either:

                              (i)  the person publishes an advertisement relating to a referendum on the internet; or

                             (ii)  the person causes, permits or authorises an advertisement relating to a referendum to be published on the internet; and

                     (b)  the advertisement is intended to affect voting in the referendum; and

                     (c)  the advertisement is paid for by the person or another person; and

                     (d)  the name and address of the person who authorised the advertisement does not appear at the end of the advertisement.

Penalty:  10 penalty units.

             (2)  Subsection (1) does not apply if the matter published on the internet forms part of a general commentary on a website.

Note:          A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code ).

             (3)  Section 15.2 of the Criminal Code (extended geographical jurisdiction--category B) applies to an offence against subsection (1) .

             (4)  In this section:

"address" of a person means an address, including a full street address and suburb or locality, that is located in Australia at which the person can usually be contacted during the day. It does not include a post office box.