5Interpretation

#### 5 Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: > approved form means a form approved by the Minister by instrument in writing. > Australia, when used in a geographical sense, includes the external Territories. > Australian consulate means: (a) the office of a diplomatic or consular officer of the Australian Government; (b) an office in a country in which there is no office of a kind referred to in paragraph (a), being an office approved by the Minister; or (c) an office of the Department, whether the office is situated in or outside Australia. > Australian reserve force means: (a) the Naval Reserve; or (b) the Army Reserve; or (c) the Air Force Reserve; and includes: (d) any reserve force that is a predecessor (whether immediate or otherwise) of the Naval Reserve; and (e) any reserve force that is a predecessor (whether immediate or otherwise) of the Army Reserve; and (f) any reserve force that is a predecessor (whether immediate or otherwise) of the Air Force Reserve. > certificate of Australian citizenship means a certificate of Australian citizenship granted under this Act and includes a certificate of naturalization or a certificate of registration granted under the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948, or under that Act as amended, before the commencement of section 22 of the Citizenship Act 1969. > child includes an adopted child, a step‑child and a child born out of wedlock. > electronic communication means: (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system. > illegal entrant means an illegal entrant within the meaning of the Migration Act 1958 as in force immediately before 1 September 1994. > New Guinea has the same meaning as the Territory of New Guinea had in the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 immediately before 16 September 1975. > Papua has the same meaning as the Territory of Papua had in the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 immediately before 16 September 1975. > permanent visa has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958. > prescribed date means the day on which section 4 of the Migration Legislation Amendment Act 1989 commences. > prescribed Territory means Norfolk Island or the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. > prison includes any custodial institution at which a person convicted of an offence may be required to serve the whole or a part of any sentence imposed upon the person by reason of that conviction. > prohibited immigrant means a prohibited immigrant within the meaning of the Migration Act 1958 as in force from time to time before 2 April 1984. > prohibited non‑citizen means a prohibited non‑citizen within the meaning of the Migration Act 1958 as in force from time to time on or after 2 April 1984 but before the prescribed date. > psychiatric institution includes a psychiatric section of a hospital. > relevant defence service means: (a) service in the permanent forces of the Commonwealth; or (b) service by virtue of a notice under section 26 of the National Service Act 1951 as in force at any time before 26 November 1964. > responsible parent has the meaning given by subsection (2). > return endorsement means a return endorsement issued under section 11A of the Migration Act 1958 before the day on which the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (No. 1) 1987 received the Royal Assent (being a return endorsement that has not expired or been cancelled), and includes a document or notation referred to in subsection 9(3) of the Migration Amendment Act 1979. > Secretary means the Secretary to the Department. > special category visa has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958. > special purpose visa has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958. > unlawful non‑citizen has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958. > valid entry permit has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958 as in force immediately before 1 September 1994. > valid permanent entry permit has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958 as in force immediately before 1 September 1994. > valid visa has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958 as in force immediately before 1 September 1994. > visa has the same meaning as in the Migration Act 1958. (2) For the purposes of this Act, a person is a responsible parent in relation to a child if: (a) the person is a parent of the child except where, because of orders made under the Family Law Act 1975, the person no longer has any parental responsibility for the child; or (b) under a parenting order the child is to live with the person (whether or not the person is a parent of the child); or (c) under a parenting order the person has parental responsibility for the child’s long‑term or day‑to‑day care, welfare and development (whether or not the person is a parent of the child); or (d) the person (whether or not a parent of the child) has guardianship or custody of the child, jointly or otherwise, under a law in force in a foreign country or a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, whether because of adoption, operation of law, an order of a court or otherwise. (2A) Expressions used in paragraphs (2)(a), (b) and (c) have the same meaning as in the Family Law Act 1975. (3) For the purposes of this Act: (a) a person born on a registered ship or aircraft shall be deemed to have been born at the place at which the ship or aircraft was registered and a person born on an unregistered ship or aircraft belonging to the government of a country shall be deemed to have been born in that country; (b) a person who, when a child, was found abandoned in Australia shall, unless and until the contrary is proved, be deemed: (i) to have been born in Australia; (ii) if born on or after 26 January 1949 and before 6 May 1966—to have been, at the time of birth, a person to whom subsection 10(2) of this Act, as in force at that time, did not apply; (iii) if born on or after 6 May 1966 and before the day on which the Australian Citizenship Amendment Act 1986 comes into operation—to have been, at the time of birth, a person to whom subsections 10(2) and (3) of this Act, as in force at that time, did not apply; and (iv) if born on or after the day on which the Australian Citizenship Amendment Act 1986 comes into operation—to be, at the time of birth, a person to whom paragraph 10(2)(a) of this Act applies and to whom subsection 10(3) of this Act does not apply; (c) a person shall be deemed not to have attained a specified age until the commencement of the relevant anniversary of the date of the person’s birth; and (e) a person shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in a country if: (i) the person has his or her home in that country; or (ii) that country is the country of his or her permanent abode notwithstanding that he or she is temporarily absent therefrom; but the person shall be deemed not to be so resident if the person resides in that country for a special or temporary purpose only. (4) A reference in this Act (other than the definition of New Guinea in subsection (1)) to New Guinea shall, in relation to any time before the date on which the Citizenship Act 1969 received the Royal Assent be read as including a reference to the Island of Nauru. (5) For the purposes of this Act: (a) a reference to a period during which a person is or has been confined in a prison includes a reference to a period: (i) during which the person is or has been an escapee from a prison; or (ii) during which the person is or has been undergoing a sentence of periodic detention in a prison; and (b) a reference to a period during which a person is or has been confined in a psychiatric institution by order of a court includes a reference to a period during which the person is or has been an escapee from the institution. (6) A child born to a woman as a result of the carrying out, during the period in which the woman was married to a man, of a medical procedure in relation to that woman, being a child who is not biologically the child of that man, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a child of that man and of no other man if the medical procedure was carried out with the consent of that man. (7) Subsection (6) applies in relation to a purported marriage that is void as if the purported marriage were a marriage and as if the parties to the purported marriage were husband and wife unless, at the time of the carrying out of the medical procedure referred to in subsection (6), neither party to the purported marriage believed on reasonable grounds that the purported marriage was valid. (8) In subsection (6), medical procedure means artificial insemination or the implantation of an embryo in the body of a woman.