Party registration guidance

Updated: 08 October 2021

Electoral Legislation Amendment (Party Registration Integrity) Act 2021 (Party Registration Act)

On 2 September 2021, the Party Registration Act received Royal Assent and party registration guidance is being updated to reflect changes to Part XI of the Electoral Act (Registration of Political Parties).

The key changes to Part XI of the Electoral Act (Registration of Political Parties) included in the Party Registration Act include:

Section

Topic

Description

123

Membership of a non-Parliamentary political party - increase to ‘at least 1,500 members’

For a non-Parliamentary political party to attain and maintain registration in the Register of Political Parties, it will be required to have ‘at least 1,500 members’ (increased from ‘at least 500 members’).

129

Parties with certain names and abbreviations not to be registered

Parties will not be allowed to be registered if they include a word which is part of the name or abbreviation of an already registered political party (without that party’s consent). Some exceptions apply for function words, collective nouns, and names of people and places.

129A

Parties with certain logos not to be registered

Parties will not be allowed to register a logo if it includes a word which is part of the name or abbreviation of an already registered political party (without that party’s consent). Some exceptions apply for function words, collective nouns, and names of people and places. (Similar to the changes to name and abbreviation requirements).

134A

Objection to continued use of name, abbreviation or logo

To align with changes to sections 129 and 129A, the grounds for objecting to existing names, abbreviations and logos has been expanded and amended.

Further information