Disclosure and funding

Electoral expenditure – House of Assembly

On this page

• What is electoral expenditure
• Examples of electoral expenditure
• Who can incur electoral expenditure
• When is electoral expenditure incurred

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Electoral expenditure for House of Assembly elections is legislated by the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act 2023 from 1 July 2025. It is important for electoral participants in House of Assembly elections to understand the meaning of electoral expenditure and when it is incurred, so they can meet their obligations under the Act – for example, making an election campaign return disclosing all electoral expenditure incurred during an election campaign period, or only using a campaign account to pay for electoral expenditure incurred.

What is electoral expenditure

Electoral expenditure is expenditure incurred for the dominant purpose of creating or communicating electoral matter in relation to a House of Assembly election.

Electoral matter is any matter that is communicated for the dominant purpose of influencing the way people vote in an election. 

Communicate means to print, publish, display, distribute, produce or broadcast. This can be via any means, including electronically (by SMS or email), or by social media or other online platform.

When considering the dominant purpose of electoral matter, the matter can only have one dominant purpose – even if the matter is functionally meeting multiple purposes. Other factors which may be considered in determining electoral matter’s dominant purpose are:

• whether the communication is to the public
• whether the communication is from an electoral participant (e.g. a registered party or a third-party campaigner)
• whether the communication contains express or implied comment on a party, member or candidate
• whether the communication is being distributed near a polling place, or
• how soon an election is being held after the communication of the matter.

Matter whose dominant purpose is educating an audience or encouraging debate on an issue of public policy will generally not be considered electoral matter. For example, this includes communications that are reporting the news, presenting current affairs, or any genuine editorial content in news media, or communications by a person primarily for a satirical, academic or artistic purpose.

More detailed definitions can be found in the Tasmanian Electoral Commission’s Electoral expenditure policy for House of Assembly elections.

Examples of electoral expenditure

The following are some general examples of electoral expenditure. This is not a comprehensive list – electoral participants should always consider all parts of the definition of electoral expenditure when making individual determinations about their expenditure.

Electoral expenditure may include:

• expenditure on advertisements in radio, television, online, social media, cinemas, newspapers, billboards, posters, corflutes, brochures or other campaign materials
• expenditure on the production and distribution of campaign materials
• expenditure incurred to employ election campaign staff, or incurred for the staff’s office accommodations (excluding a registered party’s campaign headquarters, or the electorate office of a House of Assembly member)
• expenditure on travel and accommodation for members, candidates and staff engaged in an election campaign
• expenditure incurred in raising funds for an election.

Who can incur electoral expenditure

Registered parties, House of Assembly members and candidates, associated entities and third-party campaigners may all incur electoral expenditure in a House of Assembly election. All electoral participants incurring electoral expenditure must do so from their campaign account.

When is electoral expenditure incurred

Electoral expenditure is incurred when either the purchased services are actually provided, or goods are actually delivered. These are examples of when election expenditure is incurred:

• expenditure on advertising is incurred when the advertising is broadcast or published
• expenditure on the production and distribution of campaign material is incurred when the material is distributed, and
• expenditure on the employment of staff is incurred during the period of their employment.

It’s important to note that the date on an invoice or receipt for electoral expenditure may not be the date that the expenditure is actually incurred.

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