3Interpretation

#### 3 Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: > absent voter means an elector voting or desiring to vote pursuant to section 46 other than at a polling place appointed for the Division for which the elector is enrolled. > absent voting means voting as an absent voter pursuant to section 46. > Antarctica means the Australian Antarctic Territory and includes: (a) the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands; and (b) Macquarie Island. > Antarctic elector means an elector who is, in the course of the elector’s employment: (a) in Antarctica; or (b) on a ship at sea in transit to or from Antarctica. > approved form means: (a) a form that: (i) is approved by the Electoral Commissioner in writing; and (ii) has been published by the Electoral Commissioner; or (b) a manner, approved by the Electoral Commissioner in writing, for giving a notice (however described). > Note 1: An approved form under paragraph (a) might be published by the Electoral Commissioner on the Electoral Commission’s website. > Note 2: An example of an approved form under paragraph (b) is giving a notice by using a specified web portal. > approved list of voters for a Division means a list in electronic form that: (a) contains the same information as the certified list of voters for the Division most recently prepared before the preparation of the list in electronic form; and (b) is approved by the Electoral Commissioner for use in connection with voting under this Act. > Assistant Divisional Returning Officer means an Assistant Divisional Returning Officer appointed under section 34 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Assistant Returning Officer means a person appointed to be an Assistant Returning Officer under section 6 of this Act or, where the voting day for a referendum is the same as that fixed for the polling at an election, under section 33 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Australia includes: (a) Norfolk Island; and (b) the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands; and (c) the Territory of Christmas Island. > Australian Capital Territory includes Norfolk Island and the Jervis Bay Territory. > Australian Electoral Officer means: (a) an Australian Electoral Officer for a State; or (b) the Australian Electoral Officer for the Australian Capital Territory; or (c) the Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory. > Australian Electoral Officer for a State means an Australian Electoral Officer for a State referred to in section 20 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Australian Electoral Officer for a Territory means an Australian Electoral Officer for a Territory appointed under section 5 of this Act or, where the voting day for a referendum is the same as that fixed for the polling at an election, under section 30 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Australian Electoral Officer for the Australian Capital Territory means the Australian Electoral Officer for the Australian Capital Territory appointed under: (a) section 5 of this Act; or (b) if the voting day for a referendum is the same as that fixed for the polling at an election—section 30 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory means an Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory referred to in section 20 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > authorized witness, in relation to any act or thing done by a person for the purposes of voting at a referendum, means: (a) in a case to which paragraph (b) does not apply—an elector; or (b) in the case of an act or thing done outside Australia: (i) an elector; (ii) an officer of the Defence Force or of the naval, military or air forces of a Commonwealth country; (iii) a member of the civil or public service of a State or Territory or of a Commonwealth country; (iiia) a person appointed or engaged under the Public Service Act 1999; or (iv) a justice of the peace for, or a minister of religion or medical practitioner resident in, a State or Territory or a Commonwealth country; or (v) an Australian citizen. For the purposes of this definition, Commonwealth country means a political entity, or part of a political entity, that is a member of the international organisation known as the Commonwealth of Nations. > capital city office of the Electoral Commission has the meaning given by subsection 90A(3) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > carriage service provider has the meaning given by section 87 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. > certified list of voters, in respect of a Division, means a list prepared and certified under subsection 22(1). > civil penalty provision has the meaning given by the Regulatory Powers Act. > compartment means: (a) in relation to a polling booth—a compartment constructed in the polling booth pursuant to section 20; and (b) in relation to a place at which pre‑poll ordinary voting is available—a compartment constructed in the place pursuant to section 73CE. > Note: For the places at which pre‑poll ordinary voting is available, see section 73CD. > constable means a member or a special member of the Australian Federal Police or a member of the Police Force of a State or Territory. > Controller‑General of Prisons, in relation to a State or Territory, means the official having control of the prisons of the State or Territory. > courier service means a service that provides for the collection, at the request of a person using the service, of an article from a place specified by or on behalf of that person and the delivery of the article to another place so specified, being a service approved by an Australian Electoral Officer or by the Electoral Commissioner. > declaration vote means: (a) a postal vote; (b) a pre‑poll declaration vote; (c) an absent vote; or (d) a provisional vote. > Deputy Electoral Commissioner means the Deputy Electoral Commissioner referred to in section 19 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > designated elector means an elector in relation to whom a declaration under subsection 202AH(1) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is in effect. > disclosure threshold has the meaning given by Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Division means an Electoral Division created pursuant to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 for the election of a member of the House of Representatives. > Divisional Returning Officer means a Divisional Returning Officer referred to in section 32 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > DRO means Divisional Returning Officer. > election means an election of a Member of the House of Representatives or an election of Senators for a State or Territory. > elector means a person whose name appears on a Roll as an elector. > Electoral Commission means the Australian Electoral Commission established by section 6 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Electoral Commissioner means the Electoral Commissioner referred to in section 18 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > eligible overseas elector means an elector who is entitled under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to be treated as an eligible overseas elector for the purposes of that Act. > foreign campaigner has the meaning given by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > foreign donor has the meaning given by section 287AA of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > gift has the meaning given by Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > hospital includes a convalescent home or an institution similar to a hospital or to a convalescent home. > Immigration Department means the Department administered by the Minister administering the Migration Act 1958. > itinerant elector means an elector who is entitled under section 96 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to be treated as an itinerant elector for the purposes of that Act. > listed carriage service has the meaning given by section 16 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. > mobile polling team leader means a mobile polling team leader appointed under section 51. > mobile polling team member means a mobile polling team member appointed under section 51. > Northern Territory includes the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island. > officer includes the Electoral Commissioner, the Deputy Electoral Commissioner, the Australian Electoral Officer for a State or Territory, a Divisional Returning Officer, an Assistant Returning Officer, an Assistant Divisional Returning Officer, a presiding officer, a deputy presiding officer, a substitute presiding officer, an assistant presiding officer, a pre‑poll voting officer, a mobile polling team leader and a mobile polling team member, and any other member of the staff of the Electoral Commission who is a delegate of the Electoral Commissioner under section 138. > polling booth means a building, structure, vehicle or enclosure, or a part of a building, structure, vehicle or enclosure, provided at a polling place for the purpose of taking votes at a referendum. > polling official means a deputy presiding officer or an assistant presiding officer. > polling place means a place appointed as a polling place pursuant to paragraph 80(1)(a) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > postal voting means voting pursuant to Part IV. > pre‑poll declaration vote: see subsection 71A(2). > pre‑poll ordinary vote: see subsection 71A(2). > pre‑poll voting office for a referendum means a place declared by the Electoral Commissioner under subsection 73AA(1) to be a pre‑poll voting office for the referendum. > provisionally enrolled has the meaning given by subsection (1A). > referendum means the submission to the electors of a proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution. > referendum entity means a person or entity that incurs referendum expenditure during a referendum expenditure period that exceeds the disclosure threshold. > referendum expenditure has the meaning given by section 3AAA. > referendum expenditure period means the period: (a) starting on the day that is 6 months before the writ for a referendum is issued; and (b) ending on the voting day for the referendum. > referendum matter has the meaning given by section 3AA. > referendum period, in relation to a referendum, means the period commencing on the day of the issue of the writ for the referendum and ending at the latest time on the voting day for the referendum at which an elector in Australia could enter a polling booth for the purpose of voting at the referendum. > registered medical practitioner means a person registered or licensed as a medical practitioner under the law of a State or Territory, being a law that provides for the registration or licensing of medical practitioners. > Regulatory Powers Act means the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014. > Roll means a roll of electors kept pursuant to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > scheme has the meaning given by Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > Subdivision means a Subdivision of a Division referred to in paragraph 79(1)(a) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. > substitute presiding officer means a person holding an appointment under section 18. > Territory means the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory. > video recording includes a video recording that is recorded on means other than a videotape. > voting day, in relation to a referendum, means the day fixed for the taking of the votes for the purposes of the referendum. (1A) A person is provisionally enrolled if: (a) the person is provisionally enrolled under section 99B of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918; or (b) the person is provisionally enrolled under section 38 of this Act. (2) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: (a) a reference to a Division shall be read as including a reference to the Northern Territory; and (b) a reference to a Subdivision shall be read as including a reference to a District of that Territory. (3) This Act extends to: (a) Norfolk Island; and (b) the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands; and (c) the Territory of Christmas Island. (4) In relation to a matter concerning an elector or any other matter arising under this Act, a provision of this Act that includes the expression “the Australian Electoral Officer” without words relating the expression to a particular State or Territory shall be read as referring to the Australian Electoral Officer for the State or Territory for which the elector is enrolled or in which the matter arises, as the case requires. (5) In relation to a matter concerning an elector or any other matter arising under this Act, a provision of this Act that includes the expression “the Divisional Returning Officer” without words relating the expression to a particular Division shall be read as referring to the Divisional Returning Officer for the Division for which the elector is enrolled or in which the matter arises, as the case requires. (6) In this Act: (a) a reference to a postal vote certificate printed on an envelope is taken to include a reference to a postal vote certificate that is placed inside an envelope; and (b) a reference to an envelope on which a postal vote certificate is printed is taken to include a reference to an envelope that has a postal vote certificate placed inside.