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ARTICLE · 29 FEBRUARY 2020

NT toughens its electoral funding laws

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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The reforms arise out of John Mansfield's Political Donations Inquiry, although not all recommendations were adopted.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector

The Northern Territory has toughened its electoral funding laws in time for the next territory election, due on 22 August 2020.

The reforms arise out of the Political Donations Inquiry conducted by former Federal Court judge John Mansfield AM QC, though not all its recommendations were adopted.

What has changed?

The principal changes are as follows:

  1. Donations to candidates and parties must now be disclosed if they exceed $1,500 in any financial year. Disclosure is to be made within 60 days of the end of the financial year.
  2. There is a cap on electoral expenditure between 1 January in the year of an election and 30 days after the election. For a party, the cap is $40,000 multiplied by the number of electorates in which it endorses a candidate. Expenditure incurred by a party's associated entity is included in this cap. For an independent candidate, the cap is $40,000. The amount will be indexed after the 2020 election.

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