Third-party campaigners

Electoral disclosure obligations

A third-party campaigner has obligations under the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Act 2023. They are:

to register as a third-party campaigner with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission
to use a campaign account for accepting political donations or paying for electoral expenditure
to disclose any 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 the role of third-party campaigners by watching this pre-recorded webinar.

Registering as a third-party campaigner

A third-party campaigner must register with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission before it can incur or reimburse electoral expenditure, and before it can accept political donations in relation to a House of Assembly election. To register, use the Application to register a third-party campaigner form.

The Register of Third-Party Campaigners is only kept for each House of Assembly election or by-election that occurs, so campaigners will need to register with the Commission for any Assembly election in which they are a third-party campaigner.

Third-party campaigners must notify the Commission within 30 days of any of their registered details changing – for example, moving to a new address. To update the Register, use the Change of registration details form.

Registering an official agent for a third-party campaigner

All third-party campaigners must register an official agent, who will be the person responsible for their financial disclosure obligations:

if a third-party campaigner is a corporation and chooses not to register an official agent, the associated entity’s financial controller will become their official agent by default
if the third-party campaigner is an individual and chooses not to register an official agent, they will become their own official agent by default, or
if the third-party campaigner is an unincorporated body, then the third-party campaigner must register their official agent with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission within 14 days of the third-party campaigner's registration.

To register an official agent, use the Application to register an official agent form. The Tasmanian Electoral Commission encourages third-party campaigners to register their official agent at the same time that they register as a third-party campaigner.

Electoral participants