142Protection of the official mark

142  Protection of the official mark

 (1) A person must not, without lawful authority:

 (a) make any official mark on or in any paper; or

 (b) be in possession of any paper bearing any official mark; or

 (c) make use of or be in possession of any instrument capable of making on or in any paper an official mark.

 (2) A person who, without lawful authority, makes on or in any ballot‑paper, or on or in any paper purporting to be a ballot‑paper, an official mark, is to be taken to have a forged ballot‑paper.

 (3) All paper bearing an official mark, and all instruments capable of making on or in paper an official mark, made, used, or in the possession of any person without lawful authority are forfeited to the Commonwealth, and may without warrant, be seized by a member of the Australian Federal Police or a member of the police force of a State or Territory and destroyed or dealt with as prescribed.

 (4) In this section, the words official mark mean any prescribed or *approved mark to be placed or made on or in any electoral paper, and include any mark so nearly resembling an official mark as to be likely to deceive.

 (5) In this section the words electoral paper includes a document in a prescribed or *approved form.