Associated entities

Electoral disclosure obligations

An associated entity has obligations under the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act 2023. They are:

to register as an associated entity with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission
to use a campaign account for accepting political donations or paying for electoral expenditure
to disclose electoral expenditure incurred or reimbursed in relation to a House of Assembly election
to disclose political donations made or received in relation to a House of Assembly election, and
to maintain the relevant records in relation to electoral expenditure and political donations.

The disclosure of electoral expenditure is made once for an election – after the election campaign period has ended. The disclosure of political donations is made monthly throughout the year, within seven days during election campaign periods, and in total after an election campaign period has ended.

Learn more about associated entities by watching this pre-recorded webinar.

Registering as an associated entity

An associated entity must register with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission before it can accept or make political donations, and before it can incur or reimburse electoral expenditure in relation to an election. To register, use the TEC Disclosures registration page.

The Register of Associated Entities is kept continuously. Unless the entity advises the Commission to cancel their registration, they’ll remain registered and do not need to re-register for every election or by-election.

Associated entities must notify the Commission within 30 days of any of their registered details changing – for example, moving to a new address. Associated entities can update their details on the Register of Associated Entities via their TEC Disclosures portal.

If you’re incurring electoral expenditure or making or receiving political donations for a Tasmanian parliamentary election, but you’re not an associated entity, you may be a third-party campaigner or a political donor.

Registering an official agent for an associated entity

All associated entities must register an official agent, who will be the person responsible for financial disclosure obligations:

if an associated entity is a corporation and chooses not to register an official agent, the associated entity’s financial controller will become their official agent by default, or
if the associated entity is not a corporation, then the associated entity must register their official agent with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission within 14 days of the associated entity’s registration.

Associated entities can use the Manage entity page in their TEC Disclosures portal to nominate an official agent for registration. The Tasmanian Electoral Commission encourages associated entities to register their official agent as soon as possible after they register as an associated entity.

Electoral participants