Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to subsection (3), on and after the date of issue and before the return of the writ for a referendum, every article, report, letter or other matter commenting on the issues being submitted to the electors at the referendum, published in any newspaper, circular, pamphlet or handbill must:
(a) be signed by the author; or
(b) state the true name and address of the author at the end of the article, report, letter or other matter, or that part of it which is published.
Maximum penalty: 8 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a newspaper editor or proprietor who permits, in a newspaper that he or she edits or owns, the contravention or failure to comply with subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: 8 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months.
(3) This section does not apply to the publishing in a newspaper of:
(a) a leading article; or
(b) an article that consists solely of a report of a meeting and does not contain any comment, other than comment made by a speaker at the meeting, on the issues being submitted to the electors.