Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:C2006C00152:clause:1_16:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:C2006C00152
Segment Type: clause
Provision Reference: sch 1 cl 16 (pt 4/6)
Character Range: 134004–136629

A person is guilty of an offence if the person dishonestly:
 (a) removes any postage stamp affixed to, or printed on, an article; or
 (b) removes any postmark from a postage stamp that has previously been used for postal services.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months.

471.5  Dishonest use of previously used, defaced or obliterated stamps

 (1) A person is guilty of an offence if the person dishonestly uses for postal services a postage stamp:
 (a) that has previously been used for postal services; or
 (b) that has been obliterated; or
 (c) that has been defaced.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months.

 (2) If, in proceedings for an offence against subsection (1), it is proved that the defendant caused an article to or on which was affixed or printed a postage stamp:
 (a) that had previously been used for postal services; or
 (b) that had been obliterated; or
 (c) that had been defaced;
to be carried by post, it is presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the defendant used the stamp for postal services.

 (3) The burden of proof in respect of evidence to the contrary is an evidential burden of proof.

471.6  Damaging or destroying mail‑receptacles, articles or postal messages

 (1) A person is guilty of an offence if:
 (a) the person engages in conduct; and
 (b) the person's conduct causes damage to, or the destruction of:
 (i) a mail‑receptacle; or
 (ii) an article in the course of post (including an article that appears to have been lost or wrongly delivered by or on behalf of Australia Post or lost in the course of delivery to Australia Post); or
 (iii) a postal message; and
 (c) the person:
 (i) intends that his or her conduct cause that damage; or
 (ii) is reckless as to whether his or her conduct causes that damage.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years.

 (2) For the purposes of this section, a person's conduct is taken to cause the destruction of a thing if the person's conduct causes the physical loss of the thing by interfering with the thing (including by removing any restraint over the thing or abandoning the thing).

 (3) For the purposes of this section, a person's conduct is taken to cause damage to a thing if:
 (a) the person's conduct causes any loss of a use of the function of the thing by interfering with the thing; or
 (b) the person's conduct causes the thing to be defaced.

471.7  Tampering with mail‑receptacles

 (1) A person is guilty of an offence if the person dishonestly:
 (a) opens a mail‑receptacle; or
 (b) tampers with a mail‑receptacle.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.

 (2) A person is guilty of an offence if:
 (a) the person