News

CONTACT

Chiara Napoli
LGNSW Graduate Research Officer (Legal)

[email protected]
02 9242 4058

Call to action graphic to like LGNSW on Facebook.

Call to action graphic to follow LGNSW us on Twitter.

Call to action graphic to follow LGNSW us on LinkedIn.

Call to action graphic to subscribe to LGNSW's YouTube channel.

Three Aboriginal Elders with the Statement from The Heart at Uluru.

The Voice to Parliament: Referendum expenditure and disclosure obligations

Know your obligations under the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (Cth) (Referendum Act).

What is a Referendum Matter?

The recent changes to the Referendum Act introduce reporting obligations for referendum matter produced by councils in the leadup to the referendum on the Voice to Parliament.

Referendum matter is defined in the Referendum Act as "matter communicated or intended to be communicated for the dominant purpose of influencing voters in a referendum". Dominant purpose means that the matter expressly promotes or opposes a proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution in the form of a referendum.

Currently the disclosure threshold is $15,200.00. This means that once the money expended during the referendum expenditure period to produce matter for the dominant purpose of influencing a voter’s persuasion in a referendum exceeds this amount, all expenditure up to the $15,200.00 and any further expenditure must be disclosed to the AEC.

For more information refer to the AEC referendum disclosure summary.  

The referendum expenditure period:

  • begins on the day six (6) months before the writ for a referendum is issued, and
  • concludes on the voting day for the referendum.

The referendum vote is set to take place between October 2023 – December 2023. Given that the Government has flagged the timing of the referendum, the AEC has taken the position that the expenditure period has already commenced - see Constitutional referendums in Australia: a quick guide.

Can a Council be a referendum entity?

Yes. A referendum entity is a person or organisation that incurs referendum expenditure over the referendum disclosure threshold during the referendum expenditure period. Where councils communicate matter for the dominant purpose of advocating support or opposition to the referendum which exceeds the disclosure threshold, they will likely be captured by the reporting obligations.

A council must report the following

  • referendum expenditure,
  • total value of donations received, and
  • total number of donors.

A council may also be regarded as a referendum donor if it makes one or more donations that exceeds the disclosure threshold to a referendum entity during the referendum expenditure period. To qualify as a donor, a council must intend for the donation to be used for:

  • the dominant purpose of incurring referendum expenditure, or
  • the dominant purpose of creating or communicating referendum matter.

How to best prepare your council?

It is important to know what is considered referendum matter and how much money your council expends on referendum matter during the referendum period. If your council intends to produce material on the upcoming referendum, you should keep an accurate record and monitor your expenditure in case you are required to disclose it. Also beware of foreign donors.

For more information on what is and is not classified as referendum matter, please visit the AEC FAQ sheet, which provides useful examples.

BACK TO NEWS