The Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning has issued Bulletin 11/17 advising of the commencement of legislation amendments regarding local government election donation disclosure requirements.
These disclosure obligations will apply to any local government election, including By-elections.
The Local Government Electoral (Transparency and Accountability in Local Government) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (the Amendment Act), enacted on 19 May 2017, amended the Local Government Electoral Act 2011 and the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 to:
- facilitate real-time online disclosures of gifts, loans and third party expenditure for local government elections, consistent with state election requirements
- set the candidate and third party election disclosure donation thresholds at $500 to align with the threshold for a councillor's register of interest gift disclosures under the Local Government Act 2009
- require the unspent campaign donations of a candidate/group of candidates at the end of the disclosure period for the election to be either kept in the dedicated account for the conduct of another election campaign by the candidate/group of candidates, or, if the candidate/group of candidates were members of a political party during the disclosure period, be paid to the political party or paid to a registered charity
- clarify that the Electoral Commission of Queensland may continue to recover the direct and indirect costs associated with the conduct of local government elections from local governments
- clarify that incorporated associations cannot be used to receive or hold electoral campaign funds which are intended to be applied for the benefit of a member of the association, either directly or indirectly.
Information about the requirements for the disclosure of election donations and loans and for dedicated accounts is also available on the Department’s website.
For more information contact:
Mr Bill Hastie
Manager (Local Government Policy)
Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning
P: (07) 3452 6710
E: bill.hastie@dilgp.qld.gov.au
or the Electoral Commission Queensland.