4Interpretation

##### 4 Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: > Australia includes the Territories. > election includes a by‑election (other than a by‑election for a local government authority of a State or a Territory). > election period means: (a) in relation to an election to the Legislative Council of the State of Tasmania, or an ordinary election to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory—the period that starts 33 days before the polling day for the election and ends at the close of the poll on that day; and (b) in relation to any other election to a Parliament—the period that starts on: (i) the day on which the proposed polling day for the election is publicly announced; or (ii) the day on which the writs for the election are issued; whichever happens first, and ends at the close of the poll on the polling day for the election; and (c) in relation to an election to a local government authority—the period that starts 33 days before the polling day for the election and ends at the close of the poll on that day; and (d) in relation to a referendum whose voting day is the same as the polling day for an election to the Parliament of the Commonwealth—the period that is the same as the election period in relation to that election; and (e) in relation to any other referendum—the period that starts 33 days before the voting day for the referendum and ends at the close of voting on that day. > exempt matter means any of the following: (a) matter directly relating to warnings of impending natural disasters or military or civil disorders; (b) matter relating to measures (including relief measures) taken to deal with such disasters or disorders and with their consequences; (c) matter provided by the authorities responsible for the conduct of an election to a Parliament or a local government authority, or of a referendum, including material relating to the procedures and polling places for the election or referendum and the promotion of participation in the election or referendum; (d) advertisements of goods and services offered for sale by or on behalf of: (i) the government, or a government authority, of the Commonwealth; or (ii) the government, or a government authority, of a Territory; or (iii) the government, or a government authority, of a State; being advertisements that do not contain a political reference; (e) advertisements relating to vacant positions or calling for expressions of interest in appointment to public offices; (f) advertisements calling for tenders; (g) announcements of the kind mentioned in paragraph 31(2)(a) of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983, or announcements carried by the Service relating to any activity or proposed activity of the Service; (h) announcements relating to any public inquiry or public hearing conducted under a law of the Commonwealth, or of a State or Territory; (i) any notice or announcement required to be broadcast by or under any law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, other than a prescribed notice or announcement. > government authority means: (a) in relation to the Commonwealth: (i) a Department of State of the Commonwealth; or (ii) any other authority or body (whether incorporated or not) that is established for a public purpose by the Commonwealth, regardless of the way in which the authority or body is so established; and (b) in relation to a State or Territory: (i) a Department of State of the State or Territory; or (ii) a local government authority of the State or Territory; or (iii) any other authority or body (whether incorporated or not) that is established for a public purpose by the State or Territory, regardless of the way in which the authority or body is so established. > legislature of a Territory means: (a) the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory; or (b) the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory; or (c) such other Territory legislative bodies (if any) as are prescribed. > ordinary election, in relation to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, has the same meaning as in the Australian Capital Territory (Electoral) Act 1988. > Parliament means: (a) the Parliament of the Commonwealth; or (b) a State Parliament; or (c) a legislature of a Territory; > policy launch, in relation to a political party, means a single spoken or written statement of all or any of the party's policies, whether or not the statement is accompanied by other incidental matter. > political party means an organisation whose objects or activities include the promotion of the election of a candidate or candidates endorsed by it to a Parliament. > political reference means material comprising an express or implicit reference to, or comment on, any of the following: (a) an election to the Parliament of the Commonwealth or of a State, or to the legislature of a Territory, or to a local government authority of a State or Territory, including any such election that might be held in the future; (b) the government or the opposition, or a previous government or opposition, of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; (c) a member of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or of a State, or of the legislature of a Territory; (d) a political party, or a branch or division of a political party; (e) a candidate or group of candidates in an election referred to in paragraph (a); (f) an issue submitted or otherwise before, or likely to be submitted or otherwise before, electors in such an election. > program includes advertisement and any other matter. > referendum means the submission to the electors of a proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution, whether or not the proposal to make the submission has been announced. > SBS means the body corporate preserved and continued in existence as the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation under section 5 of the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991. > Senate election has the same meaning as in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > the Corporation means the Australian Broadcasting Corporation constituted under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983. (4) For the purposes of this Act, an area shall be taken to overlap another area if the first‑mentioned area is wholly or partly co‑extensive with, or is within, the other area.