Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

AUSTRALIAN PASSPORTS ACT 2005 - SECT 31

             (1)  A person commits an offence if:

                     (a)  the person produces a document to another person; and

                     (b)  the document is false or misleading; and

                     (c)  the document is produced in, or in connection with:

                              (i)  an application for an Australian travel document; or

                             (ii)  an Australian travel document.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 10 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both.

             (2)  Subsection (1) does not apply if the document is not false or misleading in a material particular.

Note:          The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

             (3)  Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who produces a document if the document is accompanied by a written statement signed by the person (or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent officer of the body corporate):

                     (a)  stating that the document is, to the knowledge of the first-mentioned person, false or misleading in a material particular; and

                     (b)  setting out, or referring to, the material particular in which the document is, to the knowledge of the first-mentioned person, false or misleading.

Note:          The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (3). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .