Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 2011 (46 of 2011)
Schedule 1 Main amendments
Acts Interpretation Act 1901
4 After Part I
Insert:
Part 2 - Definitions
2B Definitions
In any Act:
acting SES employee has the same meaning as in the Public Service Act 1999.
affidavit includes affirmation, declaration and promise.
appoint : see section 33AA.
APS employee has the same meaning as in the Public Service Act 1999.
Australia means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, includes the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but does not include any other external Territory.
Note: See also section 15B.
Australian citizen has the same meaning as in the Australian Citizenship Act 2007.
Australian Standard : see section 2L.
business day means a day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in the place concerned.
calendar month means one of the 12 months of the year.
calendar year means a period of 12 months starting on 1 January.
commencement , in relation to an Act or a provision of an Act, means the time at which the Act or provision comes into operation.
Note: See also section 3.
Commonwealth means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, includes the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but does not include any other external Territory.
Note: See also section 15B.
Consolidated Revenue Fund means the Consolidated Revenue Fund referred to in section 81 of the Constitution.
Constitution means the Constitution of the Commonwealth.
contiguous zone has the same meaning as in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
continental shelf has the same meaning as in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
contravene includes fail to comply with.
court exercising federal jurisdiction means any court when exercising federal jurisdiction, and includes a federal court.
court of summary jurisdiction means any justice of the peace, or magistrate of a State or Territory, sitting as a court of summary jurisdiction.
de facto partner : see section 2D.
document means any record of information, and includes:
(a) anything on which there is writing; and
(b) anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols or perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them; and
(c) anything from which sounds, images or writings can be reproduced with or without the aid of anything else; and
(d) a map, plan, drawing or photograph.
estate includes any estate, interest, charge, right, title, claim demand, lien or encumbrance at law or in equity.
exclusive economic zone has the same meaning as in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
Executive Council means the Federal Executive Council.
external Territory means a Territory, other than an internal Territory, where an Act makes provision for the government of the Territory as a Territory.
Note: See also section 15B.
federal court means the High Court or any court created by the Parliament.
financial year means a period of 12 months starting on 1 July.
foreign country means any country (whether or not an independent sovereign state) outside Australia and the external Territories.
Gazette means the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
Government Printer includes any person printing for the Government of the Commonwealth.
Note: See also section 17A.
Governor of a State: see section 16B.
Governor-General : see section 16A.
High Court means the High Court of Australia.
individual means a natural person.
insolvent under administration has the same meaning as in the Corporations Act 2001.
internal Territory means the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory or the Jervis Bay Territory.
Jervis Bay Territory means the Territory referred to in the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915.
justice of the peace includes a justice of the peace for a State or part of a State or for a Territory.
land includes messuages, tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, of any tenure or description, whatever may be the estate or interest in them.
law of the Commonwealth : see section 2H.
Magistrate : see subsections 16C(2) and (3).
Minister or Minister of State means one of the Ministers of State for the Commonwealth.
Note: See also section 19.
modifications , in relation to a law, includes additions, omissions and substitutions.
month : see section 2G.
Northern Territory means the Northern Territory of Australia.
oath includes affirmation, declaration and promise.
Parliament means the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
penalty unit , including in relation to a civil penalty provision, has the meaning given by section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914.
person : see section 2C.
prescribed means prescribed by the Act or by regulations under the Act.
Proclamation means Proclamation by the Governor-General that is published in the Gazette or entered in the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments established under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
record includes information stored or recorded by means of a computer.
regulations means regulations under the Act.
rules of court : see section 2K.
seat of Government means the seat of Government of the Commonwealth.
SES employee has the same meaning as in the Public Service Act 1999.
Sovereign : see section 16.
Standards Australia means Standards Australia Limited (ACN 087 326 690).
State means a State of the Commonwealth.
statutory declaration means a declaration made because of any Act authorising a declaration to be made otherwise than in the course of a judicial proceeding.
Stipendiary Magistrate : see subsection 16C(1).
swear includes affirm, declare and promise.
territorial sea has the same meaning as in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
Territory , Territory of the Commonwealth , Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth or Territory of Australia means a Territory referred to in section 122 of the Constitution.
United Kingdom means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
writing includes any mode of representing or reproducing words, figures, drawings or symbols in a visible form.
2C References to persons
(1) In any Act, expressions used to denote persons generally (such as “person”, “party”, “someone”, “anyone”, “no-one”, “one”, “another” and “whoever”), include a body politic or corporate as well as an individual.
(2) Express references in an Act to companies, corporations or bodies corporate do not imply that expressions in that Act, of the kind mentioned in subsection (1), do not include companies, corporations or bodies corporate.
2D References to de facto partners
For the purposes of a provision of an Act that is a provision in which de facto partner has the meaning given by this Act, a person is the de facto partner of another person (whether of the same sex or a different sex) if:
(a) the person is in a registered relationship with the other person under section 2E; or
(b) the person is in a de facto relationship with the other person under section 2F.
2E Registered relationships
For the purposes of paragraph 2D(a), a person is in a registered relationship with another person if the relationship between the persons is registered under a prescribed law of a State or Territory as a prescribed kind of relationship.
2F De facto relationships
(1) For the purposes of paragraph 2D(b), a person is in a de facto relationship with another person if the persons:
(a) are not legally married to each other; and
(b) are not related by family (see subsection (6)); and
(c) have a relationship as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis.
(2) In determining for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) whether 2 persons have a relationship as a couple, all the circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account, including any or all of the following circumstances:
(a) the duration of the relationship;
(b) the nature and extent of their common residence;
(c) whether a sexual relationship exists;
(d) the degree of financial dependence or interdependence, and any arrangements for financial support, between them;
(e) the ownership, use and acquisition of their property;
(f) the degree of mutual commitment to a shared life;
(g) the care and support of children;
(h) the reputation and public aspects of the relationship.
(3) No particular finding in relation to any circumstance mentioned in subsection (2) is necessary in determining whether 2 persons have a relationship as a couple for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c).
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), the persons are taken to be living together on a genuine domestic basis if the persons are not living together on a genuine domestic basis only because of:
(a) a temporary absence from each other; or
(b) illness or infirmity of either or both of them.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (1), a de facto relationship can exist even if one of the persons is legally married to someone else or is in a registered relationship (within the meaning of section 2E) with someone else or is in another de facto relationship.
(6) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), 2 persons are related by family if:
(a) one is the child (including an adopted child) of the other; or
(b) one is another descendant of the other (even if the relationship between them is traced through an adoptive parent); or
(c) they have a parent in common (who may be an adoptive parent of either or both of them).
For this purpose, disregard whether an adoption is declared void or has ceased to have effect.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), adopted means adopted under the law of any place (whether in or out of Australia) relating to the adoption of children.
2G Months
(1) In any Act, month means a period:
(a) starting at the start of any day of one of the calendar months; and
(b) ending:
(i) immediately before the start of the corresponding day of the next calendar month; or
(ii) if there is no such day - at the end of the next calendar month.
Example 1: A month starting on 15 December in a year ends immediately before 15 January in the next year.
Example 2: A month starting on 31 August in a year ends at the end of September in that year (because September is the calendar month coming after August and does not have 31 days).
(2) In any Act, a reference to a period of 2 or more months is a reference to a period:
(a) starting at the start of a day of one of the calendar months (the starting month ); and
(b) ending:
(i) immediately before the start of the corresponding day of the calendar month that is that number of calendar months after the starting month; or
(ii) if there is no such day - at the end of the calendar month that is that number of calendar months after the starting month.
Example 1: A reference to 6 months starting on 15 December in a year is a reference to a period starting on that day and ending immediately before 15 June in the next year.
Example 2: A reference to 6 months starting on 31 October in a year is a reference to a period starting on that day and ending at the end of April in the next year (because April is the calendar month coming sixth after October and does not have 31 days).
2H References to law of the Commonwealth
In any Act, a reference to the law of the Commonwealth, or to a law of the Commonwealth, does not include, and is taken never to have included, a reference to a law in force in a Territory so far as the law is so in force because of an Act providing for the acceptance, administration or government of that Territory.
2J Documents commencing proceedings
A reference in a provision of an Act to any one or more of the following in connection with court proceedings:
(a) a summons;
(b) an information;
(c) a claim;
(d) a complaint;
(e) a declaration;
is taken to include a reference to any document through which proceedings may be instituted in a court.
Note: An example of such a document is a court attendance notice under the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 of New South Wales.
2K Rules of court
(1) In any Act, rules of court , in relation to any court, means rules made by the authority having for the time being power to make rules or orders regulating the practice and procedure of such court.
(2) The power of the authority to make rules of court includes a power to make rules of court for the purpose of any Act which directs or authorises anything to be done by rules of court.
2L References to Australian Standards
In any Act, a reference consisting of the words “Australian Standard” followed by the letters “AS” and a number is a reference to the standard so numbered that is published by, or on behalf of, Standards Australia.