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Public Register

The AEC maintains a public Register of Political Parties containing details of all registered political parties.

Certain information in the Public Register is required to be included by the section 133 of the Act. Other information (e.g. party address and deputy registered officer details) is included for convenience.

REGISTER PARTICULARS

The Register contains, for each party, the:

• Party name and address;

• Abbreviation or acronym of the name (if there is one);

• Name and address of the registered officer, and name of any deputy registered officers;

• Whether the party elects to receive public election funding.

Application to Change the Register

A registered political party may apply to the AEC to change its particulars in the Register.

It may:

• Change the party name or address;

• Change the abbreviation of the name;

• Add an abbreviation or acronym if there is not already one in the register;

• Change the election whether the party will accept public funding;

• Change the person who is nominated as registered officer of the party.

The registered officer may nominate or revoke deputy registered officers.

Who Makes the Application?

An application to change the Register (other than for change of deputy registered officers or change of address details) may be made by:

• Parliamentary party – The party secretary or all of the members of Parliament who are members of the party;

• Non-Parliamentary party – Three members of the party, preferably officers of the party.

The application must include the names and addresses of the applicants, and the capacity in which they are making the application.

Change of Party Name or Abbreviated Name

An application to change the party name, its abbreviation, or to add an abbreviation, is subject to public consultation to ensure that the new name or abbreviation is acceptable for purposes of section 129:

• The consultation process is the same as applies to an application for registration of a political party;

• The application must be accompanied by a fee of $500.

Change of Registered Officer

The application to change the person who is the registered officer must be signed by the new registered officer. If possible, it should also be signed by the outgoing registered officer. There is no fee for this change:

• Where the application is not also signed by the outgoing registered officer, the AEC must give that person written notice of the application and allow 7 days for them to show cause why the change should not be made;

• A change of registered officer has effect when the details are changed in the Register and not when the decision is made by the party.

Change of Address of Registered Officer

The registered officer may apply to the AEC to change his or her address on the Register. There is no fee or consultation process for this change.

Change of Election Funding Option

There is no fee or consultation process for this change.

Forms

The following forms to notify changes to the Register are available from the AEC, with copies included as appendices to this handbook:

• Application to Change Registered Officer Details - used for a change of registered officer, or to change the address or other contact details of the registered officer;

• Application to Change the Register of Political Parties - used for a change of party name or abbreviation, or to change an election to receive, or not to receive, election funding;

• Nomination of Deputy Registered Officer – used by a registered officer to nominate person to be a deputy registered officer.

Other changes (e.g. party address or contact details) should be notified by letter signed by the registered officer or by the secretary. Revocation of the nomination of a deputy registered officer may only be effected by the registered officer.

Where the AEC considers that the application to change the Register is in order, it will change the Register and advise the applicants that this has been done. Changes (other than of details provided by the AEC for convenience) must also be advertised in the Gazette.

If the AEC decides not to make the change, it will provide written notice of the reasons.

Inspection of the Register

The Register is available for inspection at www.aec.gov.au. It is also available for inspection, at no charge, at the AEC National Office in Canberra, each State office and the Northern Territory office during normal business hours.

A copy of the Register entry for a party will be forwarded to the party on registration, and after any changes are made to its entry. This should be reviewed by the party to ensure that it is complete and correct, and the AEC advised of any errors.

Review of the Register

As political parties receive significant benefits from registration, and must be eligible political parties to continue to be registered, the AEC regularly reviews the register of political parties.

Section 138A of the Act formally provides authority for the AEC to check whether parties continue to be eligible political parties, or whether they should be deregistered:

• The AEC may write to the registered officer of a party seeking information about the party’s continuing eligibility to be registered;

• Parties should maintain records enabling them to respond to any request from the AEC for the party to prove it remains eligible for registration.

The constitutionality and administration of these review provisions has been considered and confirmed by the High Court (Mulholland v Australian Electoral Commission [2004] HCA 41 (8 September 2004).