FINAL VERSION NOAH INDIVIDUAL TASK

 

Individual Task

How do you register a Political Party in Australia?

According to the Australian Electoral Commission Party Registration Guide, any new party applying for registration must have a name, an abbreviation, and an optional logo. An application for registration has to be made to the AEC’s national office. The AEC then publishes the name of the political party in newspapers to allow objections to be made by any member of the public or organization. The name of the party must not be more than six words, contain bad words or have any words that are anything close to an existing body. The reason for this is to prevent confusion. If the party does meet the requirements of the Electoral Act, the Electoral Commissioner will enter all the details of the party into the Register. The AEC can also de-register a party for a variety of reasons.The application for registration must be in writing. It contains the name, address and signature of the registered officer, ‘member on whom the party relies for the purpose of qualifying as an eligible political party’ and many other members of the party. There are other required details as well.

What conditions must be met to become a Political Party?

The party must register with the Australian Electoral Commission and have a party constitution. The party must be ‘an organisation with an aim of endorsing candidates for election to the House of Representatives and/or Senate.’ It must have at least one Commonwealth Parliamentarian who is a member of the party but not a member of another party; or at least 500 names of members who are on the Commonwealth electoral roll and who are not also relied upon by another party for registration purposes. (Regulations under the Electoral Act)

How much will it cost?

There is a non-refundable $500 application fee which is paid with the application for party registration. Changing the name or abbreviation of a party also requires this application fee to be paid. The costs of the campaign will vary depending on the size of the division and other factors. The 2013 House of Representatives & half-Senate elections costs over $197 646 219. This amount should include the amount of money spent by all political parties. Currently, there is little concrete information available on how much is actually spent on election campaigns in Australia because since 1998 political parties have not been required to file expenditure returns that explicitly identify amounts spent on election-related items. There are estimations that the major parties had raised and spent about $80 million on the 2007 election.It is a large amount.

How will these costs and the costs of the campaign be recouped?

The AEC does have election funding for candidates or Senate groups. They are eligible for election funding if they obtain at least 4% of thefirst preference votes in the division or the state or territory they contest in. An agent of the candidate or group must lodge a certificate to receive funding. The amount to be paid is calculated by multiplying the number of formal first preference votes obtained by the current election funding rate. Currently it is 262.259 cents per eligible vote. It is based on the Consumer Price Index. There are cases where the Electoral Commissioner is not satisfied, based on an expenditure return or other evidence, that the money should be paid. Evidence of political expenditure is required and the funding may be reduced depending upon the amount of evidence. Costs of election campaigns are usually paid for with political donations, public funding and other forms of funding. Corporations, trade unions and individuals can all donate.For the 2010 federal election, the election funding payment to the ALP was $21.2 million; to the Liberal Party $21.1 million; to the Greens $7.2 million; and to the Nationals $2.5 million.

What laws cover the actions of political parties in Australia?

There are electoral advertising offences which include not having the name and address of the authorizer and printer. The content of advertisements are not subject to any rules, however, misleading voters in relation to casting a vote is subject to fines. There is a disclosure scheme which requires registered political parties, and other participants in the electoral process to lodge annual or election financial disclosure returns with the AEC. Political parties do not have to submit election returns, but must submit annual returns.The political party annual return should contain disclosure of total amounts for receipts, payments and debts and details of money, gifts, gifts-in-kind or loans as well as debts if they are greater than a set amount.

How many political parties are there in Australia today?

There are 15 federal parliamentary parties. In total there are 59 eligible political parties registered with the AEC.

Why do you think there are so many?

The registration process may be too simple. Public funding for elections would definitely increase the number of parties. South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory do not currently have public funding schemes. There are many groups of people who have their own views and want to influence the way this country is governed. Many issues cannot/are not addressed by larger parties and require campaigning by small parties to remind and inform the public of it. They may want the salary, the fame, the experience or the chance to represent a group of people and fulfil something. It is said to be difficult for new parties to cover the prohibitive costs of campaigning especially when a new party cannot attract enough votes for their campaign costs to be reimbursed with public funding. Corporate support is the key to success in the current political arena.

References

Australian Electoral Commission 2016, Party Registration Guidehttp://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/party_registration/guide/  (accessed Wednesday, 4 May 2016)

Australian Electoral Commission 2016, Party registration overview http://www.aec.gov.au/parties_and_representatives/party_registration/overview.htm(accessed Wednesday, 4 May 2016)

Parliamentary Education Office, Political Parties http://www.peo.gov.au/learning/fact-sheets/political-parties.html\ (accessed Wednesday, 4 May 2016)

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2016, Political funding in Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_funding_in_Australia(accessed Wednesday, 11 May 2016)

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