1. It is an offence to fly a kite ‘to the annoyance of any person’ or sing an ‘obscene song or ballad’ in a public place in Victoria. (Fact: Slater Gordon. Image: Getty)
2. In SA there is a $250 maximum fine for unlawfully ringing doorbells. (Fact: Slater Gordon. Image: Getty)
3. You can be jailed for up to a year for cleaning up seabird or bat poo without a licence in Western Australia and you can also be fined thousands of dollars for possessing more than 50kg of potatoes under certain circumstances. (Fact: Slater Gordon. Image: Getty)
4. It is illegal to post a fake job advertisement in Queensland. (Fact: Slater Gordon. Image: Getty)
5. It is an offence in both SA and Victoria to take a homing pigeon unless you have lawful authority to do so. In Western Australia, you can be in trouble for stealing a pigeon, but only if it is tame and either in a pigeon-house or on the owner’s land. (Picture: Getty)
6. In Victoria it is an offence to undertake any rain-making activity unless you are authorised to do so (Rain-making Control Act 1967 (Vic) section 9). ‘Rain-making’ refers to the artificial nucleating or seeding of clouds using a manned aircraft (section 2), so your rain dances should still be okay. (Fact: gotocourt.com.au. Image: Getty).
7. In Victoria it is an offence to harness or attach your goat or your dog to a vehicle and drive it in or through a public area (Summary Offences Act 1966 (Vic) s 8(c)). The penalty is currently $777.30
8. In Victoria, making unreasonable noise with a vacuum cleaner after 10pm or before 7am on weekdays, and 9am on weekends, is considered an offence. This is in accordance with Section 48A of the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic), as well as the Regulation 6, Environment Protection (Residential Noise) Regulations 2008 (Vic). Police or the council can order you to stop making noises, and failure to abide can result in a fine of up to $18,655.20, with an additional fine up to $4,663.80 per day for continued violations. (Fact: Platinum Lawyers. Picture: Getty)
9. In Victoria, according to Section 70C of Crimes Act 1958, corresponding or doing business with pirates is illegal and can result in 10 years’ imprisonment.
10. It is an offense to offer rewards for a stolen property without asking questions in Tasmania and South Australia. The local jurisdictions do not permit anybody to give such rewards without the option for questioning since that leaves no room for capturing any criminals in the process.
11. It is illegal in most parts of Australia to wear a disguise without relevant cause. As bizarre as it sounds, the law is quite practical and can go a long way in preventing criminal activity.
12. Bars are required by law to stable, water and feed the horses of patrons.
13. In South Australia it is against the law to disrupt a wedding. The same goes for funerals, too. According to the Summary Offences Act 7A, any person who intentionally obstructs or disturbs a wedding ceremony or funeral — whether secular or religious — is guilty of an offence and could face a maximum penalty of a whopping $10,000 or two years’ imprisonment.
14. If you get electrocuted to death then you will have to pay fines to the government. Apparently, according to the Australian laws, it is illegal to touch electric wires that can lead to your death. So, if you don’t want to pay a fine up to $200 then please keep a safe distance from electrical wires and don’t die because of them.
15. Thinking of pulling out the crystal ball to make a few bucks on weekends? In Victoria, under the Vagrancy Act 1966, it’s against the law to pretend to tell people’s fortunes – or use witchcraft or ‘crafty science’ for that matter – to discover where stolen goods might be found.
16. It is an offence to sell a refrigerator with a capacity of 42.5 litres or more, unless all of the doors can be easily opened from the inside or it was brought into the state before 1962 in South Australia.
