New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ELECTORAL FUNDING ACT 2018 - SECT 23

23 Applicable cap on political donations

(cf section 95A EFED Act)

Note : The dollar amounts set out in this section are the adjusted amounts for the financial year beginning 1 July 2017 (see the Election Funding, Expenditure and Disclosures (Adjustable Amounts) Notice under the Election Funding, Expenditure and Disclosures Act 1981 ). These dollar amounts are to be adjusted for inflation for the financial year beginning 1 July 2018 by Schedule 1.

(1) General cap The applicable cap on political donations is as follows--

(a) $6,100 in the case of any such political donation to or for the benefit of a registered party or of a group,

(b) $2,700 in the case of any such political donation to or for the benefit of--

(i) a party that is not a registered party, or

(ii) an elected member, or

(iii) a candidate, or

(iv) a third-party campaigner, or

(v) an associated entity.

In this subsection, in relation to political donations for local government elections,
"registered party" includes a party registered under the Local Government Act 1993 .

Note : The applicable caps are adjusted for inflation under Schedule 1.

(2) Aggregation of donations during financial year A political donation of or less than an amount specified in subsection (1) made by an entity or other person is to be treated as a donation that exceeds the applicable cap on political donations if that and other separate political donations made by that entity or other person to the same party, elected member, group, candidate, third-party campaigner or associated entity within the same financial year would, if aggregated, exceed the applicable cap on political donations referred to in subsection (1).

(3) Aggregation of donations to elected members, groups or candidates of same party A political donation of or less than an amount specified in subsection (1) made by an entity or other person to an elected member, group or candidate is to be treated as a donation that exceeds the applicable cap on political donations if that and other separate political donations made by that entity or other person to elected members, groups or candidates of the same party within the same financial year would, if aggregated, exceed the applicable cap on political donations to a group referred to in subsection (1).

Note : Political donations in relation to separately registered parties that are in coalition or otherwise associated are not aggregated and, accordingly, the applicable cap applies separately in relation to each such registered party.

(4) Separate aggregation in relation to local government elections The provisions of subsections (2) and (3) are to be applied separately to political donations for local government elections and to other political donations.

(5) Non-aggregation of contributions to candidate's own campaign For the avoidance of doubt, a candidate's contribution to finance the candidate's own election campaign is not a political donation and is not included in the applicable cap on political donations to the candidate.

Note : Although there is no applicable political donations cap on a candidate's contribution to finance the candidate's own election campaign, Division 4 of this Part still operates to make it unlawful for such a candidate to incur electoral expenditure that exceeds the applicable cap on electoral expenditure set out in that Division.

(6) Indexation of capped amounts Each of the amounts referred to in subsection (1) is an adjustable amount that is to be adjusted for inflation as provided by Schedule 1.

(7) Meaning of candidates etc of same party For the purposes of this section, elected members, groups and candidates are of the same party if the same party endorsed the elected members, members of the group or candidates at the last election (including any subsequent by-election) or are to be endorsed by the same party at the next election. If any such person ceases to be a member of that party after being elected or endorsed as a candidate, the person ceases to be of the same party for the purposes of this section.