Are Political Donations Legal in Australia

The new rules prohibit donations from foreign donors: a person who has no connection to Australia, such as a person who is not an Australian citizen, or an entity that does not have a significant commercial presence in Australia. Receiving a prohibited donation can result in a fine of up to $42,000 or three times the amount of the donation (other penalties may also apply to donors). Key Term Disclosure Threshold: Political donations above the disclosure threshold must be disclosed to the ACS (currently $13,800 and indexed annually). Election Financing: An amount of money that parties and candidates receive for their campaigns is limited to the lower value of $2,756 per official first-preference vote or the party`s or candidate`s election expenses. Associate: Organizations controlled by a political party or acting wholly or substantially in favor of a political party. Many unions are associated units of the ALP. Transparency Register: A REGISTER maintained by the ACS of all political parties, affiliates, third parties, political activists and candidates. Under its law prohibiting foreign policy donations, the federal government has passed amendments to federal election legislation that provide that, in fact, if a donor makes a political donation in a state jurisdiction, unless the donor or recipient indicates that the donation is being used for state political purposes, federal law rather than state law would apply to these donations. This would mean, for example, that a developer could still donate in QLD, unless they claimed the donation was for a state election campaign. This document does not attempt to capture all the nuances of each system and does not replace legal advice. Laws change from time to time, and the guide reflects only laws at the time of publication.

Only laws relating to state/territorial and federal elections will be considered. Reimbursement of election expenses is possible for candidates and political parties participating in elections in Washington States, provided that the candidate or party receives more than four percent of the first preferential votes. As of July 1, 2021, the indexed amount reimbursed is $1.986053 per first valid preferential vote up to the amount of election expenses. There are no administrative resources available for candidates and parties participating in elections in Virginia. The new funding and disclosure system only allows donations from Australian citizens or residents and businesses with an NBA (however, it does not require proof that the donor is an eligible donor). Victoria sets a disclosure threshold for indexed donations of $1,050 (and prohibits anonymous donations of $1,050 or more) and sets a donation limit of $4,210 for each election period (the election-to-election period in four years). Donors are also not allowed to donate to more than six third-party activists (defined as third parties who spend more than $4,210 on political spending in a fiscal year). These amounts are indexed annually according to the CPI. This means that well before elections, political parties and candidates are incentivized to collect as much money as possible from private sources, including deep-pocketed lobby groups and wealthy benefactors, as well as unions and grassroots sympathizers. Amendments to queensland`s 1992 Election Act in February 2017 set the threshold for disclosure of donations and loans at $1,000 and required political parties and candidates to declare all donations or willingness to report within seven days of the year (i.e.

not just during an election period). The change in the disclosure limit was made retroactively and the $13,000 disclosure limit that applied in the run-up to the 2015 election was reversed. The retroactive lowering of the disclosure limit before the 2015 election led the ECQ to take legal action against the National Liberal Party for disclosing donations made before the election. The Queensland Supreme Court upheld the legislation. Donors are individuals or organizations (with the exception of registered political parties, affiliates, candidates and members of a Senate group in an election) that donate to: this delay of up to 19 months has fueled calls for “real-time” donation reform. This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using the information available at the time of production. The opinions expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal advice. In Australia, the majority of private political donations take the form of corporate donations[2], which are used to fund party election advertising campaigns. Union donations and dues also play a major role and, to a lesser extent, donations from individuals. Donations are sometimes made in the form of in-kind donations, called in-kind donations. Former Victorian Auditor General Ches Baragwanath said it was naïve to believe that political donors do not expect favors in exchange for their money.

[3] The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) monitors donations to political parties and publishes an annual list of political donors. [3] In practice, it is not difficult for donors to make undisclosed donations to political parties in Australia. [4] For example, donors can sometimes hide their identity behind affiliates. [3] Exceptional aid appropriations cannot be used for political expenditure. The analysis also revealed that five donors have contributed 25 per cent of all funds to political parties since 1999. Those donors are Clive Palmer`s Mineralogy, which made 40 donations worth $101.1 million, including huge donations in the run-up to the last election. Political parties, elected members, candidates, groups and third-party activists are required to keep a campaign account. These accounts are used to receive political donations and make election expenses, and public funds are deposited into the accounts. Expenses must be reported annually within 12 weeks of the end of the year. The legislation has also amended the registration and reporting obligations of certain political actors. A new category, “political activist,” has been created, focusing on organizations that are not political parties but incur significant election expenses.

Political activists now have reporting and disclosure requirements similar to those of political parties. Although most relevant legislation refers to donations to political parties as “donations”, the terms “gift” and “gift” are used interchangeably in this document, reflecting their popular use. Gifts can take the form of money, but can also include the provision of goods or services free of charge (or in the form of benefits in kind), such as the provision of rent-free housing. Volunteering is generally not considered a gift and is generally not regulated by these laws. All donations, donations and loans above the threshold (currently $5,576, indexed) must be forwarded to the SA Electoral Commission by political parties, candidates, affiliates and third-party activists, and they must also record information on donations of $200 or more and loans of $1,000 or more.