Electoral participants with disclosure and funding obligations under the Electoral Act 2004 or the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act 2023 are required to register with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission.
Registers help to make Tasmanian parliamentary elections transparent – they can show who is financially involved in an election, and are used for compliance and monitoring activities by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission.
Political parties may apply to register under the Electoral Act 2004 with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission. Registration enables a party to list the names of party candidates under the name of their party on parliamentary ballot papers.
A candidate or intending candidate must register with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission before they can accept political donations or pay for electoral expenditure in relation to either a House of Assembly or Legislative Council election.
The Register of Assembly Members lists all current members of the House of Assembly, including details of their endorsement by a registered party where applicable. The register is updated after the return of writs for a State election, following the completion of a recount, or when formal notification is received of a change to a member’s details.
A party agent acts on behalf of a registered party and any of their endorsed House of Assembly members or candidates for disclosure and funding purposes.
An official agent acts on behalf of independent members, independent candidates, associated entities, third-party campaigners and significant political donors for disclosure and funding purposes.
An associated entity is an organisation or group that is significantly linked to a registered political party for a Tasmanian parliamentary election.
A third-party campaigner is an entity that incurs more than $5,000 of electoral expenditure during an election campaign period for a House of Assembly election.
Electoral participants with disclosure obligations under the Electoral Act 2004 or the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act 2023 are required to disclose political donations and electoral expenditure with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission. The Tasmanian Electoral Commission also administers two public funding schemes for House of Assembly elections. This public funding is available to eligible registered parties, candidates, and House of Assembly members.
Funding claims and disclosures are made public after their lodgement, to facilitate public awareness of public funding, political donations and electoral expenditure in Tasmanian parliamentary elections. Links to reports will be added as the relevant periods for claims and returns are due.
The disclosure of reportable political donations is made monthly throughout the year, and within seven days during election campaign periods.
The disclosure of electoral expenditure is made once for an election – after the election campaign period has ended. An election campaign return also includes a summary of all political donations made or received during an election campaign period.
Eligible registered parties and independent House of Assembly candidates can claim for reimbursement of electoral expenditure in House of Assembly elections and by-elections.
Registered parties and independent House of Assembly members can claim for reimbursement of administrative or operating expenditure.