New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ELECTORAL FUNDING ACT 2018 - SECT 5

5 Meaning of "political donation"

(cf section 85 EFED Act)

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a
"political donation" is--

(a) a gift made to or for the benefit of a party or a group of candidates, or

(b) a gift made to or for the benefit of an elected member, the whole or part of which was used or is intended to be used by the elected member--

(i) solely or substantially for a purpose related to an election or to the elected member's duties as an elected member, or

(ii) to enable the elected member to make, directly or indirectly, a political donation or to incur electoral expenditure, or

(iii) to reimburse the elected member for making, directly or indirectly, a political donation or incurring electoral expenditure, or

(c) a gift made to or for the benefit of a candidate, the whole or part of which was used or is intended to be used by the candidate--

(i) solely or substantially for a purpose related to an election, or

(ii) to enable the candidate to make, directly or indirectly, a political donation or to incur electoral expenditure, or

(iii) to reimburse the candidate for making, directly or indirectly, a political donation or incurring electoral expenditure, or

(d) a gift made to or for the benefit of an entity or other person (not being a party, elected member, group or candidate), the whole or part of which was used or is intended to be used by the entity or person--

(i) to enable the entity or person to make, directly or indirectly, a political donation or to incur electoral expenditure, or

(ii) to reimburse the entity or person for making, directly or indirectly, a political donation or incurring electoral expenditure.

(2) An amount paid by a person as a contribution, entry fee or other payment to entitle that or any other person to participate in or otherwise obtain any benefit from a fundraising venture or function (being an amount that forms part of the gross proceeds of the venture or function) is taken to be a gift for the purposes of this section.

(3) An annual or other subscription paid to a party by--

(a) a member of the party, or

(b) a person or entity (including an associated entity or industrial organisation) for affiliation with the party,

is taken to be a gift to the party for the purposes of this section.

Note : Unless details of any such subscription are required to be disclosed because it is a reportable political donation of or exceeding $1,000, the total amount of subscriptions and other details are required to be disclosed under section 19(4).

(4) The following dispositions of property are taken to be a gift for the purposes of this section--

(a) a disposition of property to a NSW branch of a party from the federal branch of the party,

(b) a disposition of property to a NSW branch of a party from another State or Territory branch of the party,

(c) a disposition of property from a party to another party.

Note : Any such disposition will be a political donation that is required to be disclosed and subject to the caps on political donations under Part 3. Any such donation paid into (or held against the assets of) a federal election campaign account is not subject to the cap on donations--see section 24(2).

(5) Uncharged interest on a loan to an entity or other person is taken to be a gift to the entity or person for the purposes of this section. Uncharged interest is the additional amount that would have been payable by the entity or person if--

(a) the loan had been made on terms requiring the payment of interest at the generally prevailing interest rate for a loan of that kind, and

(b) any interest payable had not been waived, and

(c) any interest payments were not capitalised.

(6) A payment under Part 4 (Public funding of State election campaigns) or Part 5 (Administrative and New Party policy development funding) is not a political donation.

Note : Even though an electoral funding payment to a candidate is not a donation required to be disclosed, the amount is required to be paid into the separate campaign account that is established for donations to and electoral expenditure by the candidate--see section 76(3).

(7) However, if any part of a gift that is not a political donation pursuant to subsection (1)(b)-(d) is subsequently used to incur electoral expenditure, that part of the gift becomes a political donation.

(8) For the purposes of this Act, a political donation made to or for the benefit of a party, third-party campaigner or associated entity is a
"political donation for a local government election" if--

(a) in relation to a donation to a party--the donation is paid into (or held as an asset of) the local government campaign account of the party under Subdivision 1 of Division 5 of Part 3, and

(b) in relation to a donation to a third-party campaigner or associated entity--the third-party campaigner or associated entity establishes that the donation was made solely for the purposes of a local government election campaign.