7 September 2000

The attached background information is provided to assist media covering stories which relate to the federal registration of political parties.

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (CEA) requires that certain criteria are met for a political party to be eligible for federal registration. The key requirements are that the party:

• be established on the basis of a written constitution;
• have as one of its objectives that it will endorse candidates for House of Representatives or Senate elections; and
• satisfy membership requirements as either:
  
  1. a parliamentary party (it must have at least one member who is a member of an Australian Parliament) or
  2. a non-parliamentary party (it must have at least 500 members entitled to enrolment on the Commonwealth electoral roll).

The AEC processes applications by ensuring the technical requirements of the CEA are met. After these requirements are satisfied, the AEC places an advertisement in the major newspaper in each state and territory and places a public notice in the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette.

The advertisement and public notice outline:

• the fact that the application has been received;
• the proposed name of the party;
• the proposed abbreviation of the party name;
• the proposed registered officer of the party; and
• call for any objections to the proposed registration (a one month period is allowed for objections).

Following the closure of the objection period any objections are sent to the proposed registered officer of the party who is invited to respond to the objections within two weeks.

Following the conclusion of this period the application is provided to the Australian Electoral Commission, which will consider any objections and replies to those objections and determine whether the party should be registered.

The period for processing of applications varies depending on issues arising from the application submitted and external factors like the suspension of party registration during election periods. The minimum period is normally eight weeks.

AEC FUNDING AND DISCLOSURE REPORTS

The issue of registration of parliamentary parties with one member of parliament registering more than one political party has previously been raised in the Funding and Disclosure Reports on the 1996 and 1998 Federal Elections. Both these reports were tabled in federal parliament following the relevant event.

The key recommendation from the 1996 Election Report was:

Recommendation 11

That a Member of Parliament only be able to lend his/her name to a single political party for registration purposes.

The key recommendation from the 1998 Election Report was:

Recommendation 15

Consideration be given to amending the provision for a political party qualifying for registration on the basis of having one or more members who are members of a Federal or State parliament or a Territory legislature as an alternative to having 500 members, to either:

• remove the option from the Act altogether;
• restrict Members of Parliament to only be able to lend their name to a single political party for registration purposes; or
• restrict this option to only members of the Federal Parliament.

Both these reports are available in full on the AEC’s web site www.aec.gov.au.

JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON ELECTORAL MATTERS

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Report on the 1998 Federal Election has recommended ‘That eligibility for federal registration by a political party requires that political parties must have either 500 members as defined under section 123(3) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 or have at least one member of the federal parliament.’ A copy of the JSECM’s report is available on their website at www.aph.gov.au/house/committe/em/index.htm.

ELECTION FUNDING

Registered political parties are only entitled to election funding if they endorse a House of Representatives or Senate candidate who then receives at least 4% of the formal first preference votes in a House of Representatives or Senate election (sections 294 and 297 of the CEA).

Contact:

Anthea Wilson
Acting Director Information
Phone: 02 6271 4415 or 0413 452 539

Paul Pearson
Director Funding and Disclosure
Phone: 02 6271 4417 or 0412 265 327