Introduction
With federal, Queensland and ACT elections looming, and plenty of important policy issues on the go, political engagement will be on the agenda for many organisations. But how well do you know the political donation rules that require reporting to the electoral authorities?
There are strict rules governing donations and gifts (the terms are used interchangeably) to political entities. These rules are to help ensure that elections and political processes are transparent.
If your organisation has given (or is considering giving) financial or practical support to a political party, a politician, an election candidate or a lobby group this financial year, this article tells you the key things you have to think about to make sure you get it right.
Cash donations are obvious, but you can give support in many other ways. For example, did you attend a fundraising dinner that included a “Meet the Minister”? Or provide discounted use of your premises or equipment? All of these can count as donations and gifts.
Do you know:
- what gifts and donations you are and aren’t allowed to make?
- what gifts and donations have to be reported – and by when?
- how to report a donation or gift?
- whether you have hit any caps on donations or gifts?
Unfortunately, each of Australia’s nine jurisdictions has a different answer to these questions. To add to the complexity, a number of the regimes are considering legislative reform.
This article focuses on the Commonwealth, Queensland and ACT political donations regimes because elections are either imminent (the ACT General Election is on 19 October 2024 and the Queensland State Election is on 26 October 2024) or due soon (the federal election must be held by May 2025).
So, if you need to tackle these questions, get in touch. We’d love to show you our interactive political donations tool, designed to guide you easily through the complexity of the political rules season.
Commonwealth – Remember, remember, the 18th of November (2024)
You need to report to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) before 18 November 2024 if:
- you made one or more political donations or gifts;
- the gifts or donations were to a federal political party, a sitting member of Parliament or Senator or a significant third party (eg political campaigners and associated entities); and
- during FY 23/24, the gifts and donations totalled more than $16,900.
Have you made a gift or donation?
As a general rule, a political “donation” or “gift” means any transfer of money, property or services. This includes:
- direct money donations
- gifts-in-kind, such as free or discounted goods or services, interest-free loans or the free or discounted use of premises or equipment
- payments to attend fundraising ventures or functions and networking events with a political element, such as “Meet the Minister” events.
A gift or donation is reportable only if it is made without, or with inadequate, consideration. In other words, the value of what you gave must be more than the commercial value of the benefit you got from the donation.
This means you need to assess whether there’s a mismatch between your donation and the commercial value of what you’ve received.
Who did you give the donation or gift to?
You need to work out whether the donation or gift was made to a “relevant political entity”. In FY 23/24 this means political parties, elected members of Parliament and Senators and some significant third parties, such as political campaigners and associated entities. However, in the lead up the federal election in 2025, there’ll be an additional focus on political parties and candidates for elections, and a key question will be whether you are making the donation to the candidate or a campaign committee.
There’s more information about some of these concepts in our previous article here.
Note: This late reporting deadline for political donations and gifts is unique to the Commonwealth. Many other jurisdictions adopt variations of real-time disclosure (eg most Victorian donations must be reported within 21 days after being given), or on a six-monthly basis (eg from July 2025 Tasmania political donations will generally need to be reported 21 days after the end of each 6 month period).
Queensland – Time’s a tickin’
Queensland has some of the strictest laws for political donations – and things are heating up with the State General Election on 26 October 2024. This will be the first State General Election to which the current political donations regime applies in full.
The key points to know are:
- Prohibited donors - you can’t donate if you are, or you are donating on behalf of, a ‘prohibited donor’ — property developers or industry bodies where the majority of members are property developers.
- Real-time disclosure - Queensland has real-time disclosure laws – if you make a political donation of $1,000 or more (either as a single amount or cumulatively) to:
- a candidate in the upcoming State General Election; or
- a registered political party within either of the two reporting periods, 1 January to 30 June, and 1 July to 31 December,
you must disclose it to the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) within 7 business days.
- Donation caps - the following caps apply to political donations made between 1 July 2020 and 25 November 2024:
- no more than $4,000 over the whole period to the same registered political party;
- $6,000 over the whole period to the same independent candidate; and
- $6,000 collectively, over the whole period, to candidates endorsed by the same registered political party.
These caps will reset on 26 November 2024 and last until 2028.
The giving tree – rules for the ACT
The ACT general election is approaching on 19 October 2024. Unlike the Queensland and Commonwealth political donation regimes, you do not need to report political donations or gifts.
However, some types of organisations are banned from making donations, for example property developers and foreign entities.
And even if you don’t need to report, your donation may still be reportable. Depending on the size of a donation and the political entity who receives it, the recipient of the donation may be required to report your donation.
What about all this talk of political donations in the media?
In recent months, there has been a flurry of media attention on political donations, with a focus on:
- the commencement of Tasmania’s political donations laws in July 2025;
- speculation that the Federal Government will introduce changes to the Commonwealth political donations regime (including introducing caps and lowering the disclosure threshold);
- whether there should be criminal offences for breaching political donations laws; and
- (thanks to South Australia) whether political donations should be banned outright. (South Australia’s proposed Electoral (Accountability and Integrity) Amendment Bill 2024 seeks to prohibit the giving or receiving of political donations and loans to political parties, members of Parliament and candidates in South Australia. This bill is currently being considered after public consultation closed on 11 July 2024.)
In short – the only certainty for political donations in Australia is that it is going to remain a complex legal web for a long time.
So what should I do?
The most critical aspect of managing political donations is to ensure that your organisation understands whether its activities constitute a political donation or gift, and whether the donation or gift is permitted and/or reportable. This typically requires a policy and training.
If you’d like to know more about a particular jurisdiction, need to update or create a political donations policy, or would like to hear about our interactive political donations tool, please reach out to the team.