Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

DEFENCE ACT 1903 - SECT 80B

  (1)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person wears a service decoration; and

  (b)   the person is not the person on whom the decoration was conferred.

Penalty:   30 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

  (2)   Where the person upon whom a service decoration was conferred has died, it is not an offence against subsection   (1) for a member of the family of that person to wear the service decoration if the member of the family does not represent himself or herself as being the person upon whom the decoration was conferred.

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)   It is not an offence against subsection   (1) for a person to wear a service decoration in the course of a dramatic or other visual representation (including such a representation to be televised) or in the making of a cinematograph film.

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

  (4)   A person shall not falsely represent himself or herself as being the person upon whom a service decoration has been conferred.

Penalty:   30 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

  (5)   A person shall not deface or destroy, by melting or otherwise, a service decoration.

Penalty:   60 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both.