NSW Registration and Expenditure Rules for Local Government Elections

Electoral Funding Amendment (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024

7 May 2024: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

Legislative Council

Legislative Assembly

Assent

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Topics

campaign finance candidate registration election spending caps electoral administration local government elections

Introduced by: The Hon John Graham MLC (ALP); Jo Haylen MP (ALP)

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Official page: bill text and explanatory notes

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Groups of candidates no longer need a registered name to be registered
The Electoral Commission must keep candidate and agent registers for by-elections; this applies even if only one candidate runs
The Electoral Commission must publish updated inflation-adjusted expenditure caps and office accommodation amounts on its website
Expenditure caps for delayed local government elections remain at the levels that would have applied without the delay
The Electoral Commission as a body is responsible for reviewing electoral expenditure caps; this replaces the individual Electoral Commissioner
Campaign expenditure caps are aggregated for the party; this removes the inclusion of elected members in the aggregation

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Alister Henskens LIB

“I will be incredibly short. The Electoral Funding Amendment (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024 was introduced in the Legislative Council on 8 February 2024. It was passed with the support of the Opposition.”

Official source →

Julia Finn ALP

“I speak in support of the Electoral Funding Amendment (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024. In supporting it, I foreshadow that I will raise concerns about enforcement, particularly breaches I observed from the last local government election. Without enforcement, the restrictions that promote fairness are totally undermined.”

Official source →

Kobi Shetty GRN

“As the New South Wales Greens spokesperson on democracy, I make a short contribution to debate on the Electoral Funding (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024 and indicate that The Greens will support this bill. The bill makes four amendments to the Electoral Funding Act 2018.”

Official source →

Jo Haylen ALP

“As members would be aware, the bill proposes amendments to the Electoral Funding Act and ensures that the correct indexation is in place for the 2024 local government elections. I thank the member for Wahroonga for his brevity and his support of the bill. I note the concerns of the member for Granville.”

Official source →

News articles and press releases

Second Reading Speech, Electoral Funding Amendment (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024

The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM, Minister for Roads — 2024-02-08

I bring before the House the Electoral Funding Amendment (Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps) Bill 2024. Local government general elections in New South Wales are scheduled to be held this year on 14 September 2024. From 1 July 2024 the capped expenditure period starts. During this period, limits will apply to the amounts that political participants can spend on election campaigning for the elections. These limits are called electoral expenditure caps and are provided for in the Electoral Funding Act 2018. The capped expenditure period ends on election day.