Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move my amendments (1) to (5) together:

(1)    Schedule 1, item 75, page 20 (lines 13-14), omit the item.

(2)    Schedule 1, after item 77, page 20 (after line 21) insert

77A  After section 302

Insert:

Division 3A - Return by candidates

302A  Interpretation

        (1)    In this Division

                 electoral expenditure  in relation to an election, means all expenses incurred by or on behalf of a candidate, and gifts or donations received by or on behalf of the candidate in connection with the election and includes expenditure incurred and gifts or donations received in connection with the election (whether or not incurred during the election period) on:

             (a)    the broadcasting, during the election period, of an advertisement relating to the election; or

             (b)    the publishing on the Internet or in a journal, during the election period, of an advertisement relating to the election; or

             (c)    the display, during the election period, at a theatre or other place of entertainment, of an advertisement relating to the election; or

             (d)    the production of an advertisement relating to the election, being an advertisement that is broadcast, published or displayed as mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c); or

             (e)    the production of any material (not being material referred to in paragraph(a), (b) or (c)) that is required under section 328 or 332 to include the name and address of the author of the material or of the person authorizing the material and that is used during the election period; or

              (f)    the production and distribution of electoral matter that is addressed to particular persons or organisations and is distributed during the election period; or

             (g)    the carrying out, during the election period, of an opinion poll, or other research, relating to the election.

                 candidature includes the actions in connection with a candidate’s attempts to be elected as a Senator or as a Member of the House of Representatives.

        (2)    For the purposes of this Division, electoral expenditure incurred by or with the authority of a candidate shall be deemed to have been incurred by that candidate.

302B  Candidates to make returns

        (1)    Within 15 weeks after the polling day in an election every candidate at the election shall sign and provide to the Electoral Commission a return of the electoral expenditure incurred or authorised by the candidate showing

             (a)    all electoral expenditure paid, and

             (b)    any disputed and unpaid claims for electoral expenditure, and

             (c)    the names of persons or organisations who have made gifts or donations to the candidate in connection with the election, and the details of the gifts or donations received.

        (2)    The return must be in accordance with a form set out in the regulations.

        (3)    The Electoral Commission must ensure that returns or certified copies of returns are available for public inspection at an office of the Electoral Commission for a period of 6 months after they have been received by the Commission.

302C  Expenditure etc on behalf of candidate

Any person incurring or authorising any electoral expenditure on behalf of a candidate or providing or making a gift or donation to a candidate without the written authority of the candidate shall be guilty of a contravention of this Act

(3)    Schedule 1, item 82, page 22 (lines 16-17) omit the item.

(4)    Schedule 1, item 128, page 35 (lines 12-13), omit the item.

(5)    Schedule 1, item 130, page 36 (lines 13-14), omit the item.

I will speak briefly to the amendments because I have just spoken to them at some length in the second reading debate. For those members who were not here or who were not particularly interested, in summary the intent of the amendments is essentially to maintain the requirement that media broadcasters and publishers continue to file returns following elections and that associated entities be more clearly defined as to their reporting requirements, to show who their donors are, and for each candidate, regardless of their party affiliation, to file an individual return indicating their donors and expenditure. The amendments are self-explanatory in that sense, and I ask members to support those amendments.

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