Electoral Legislation Amendment (Political Campaigners) 2021

# Electoral Legislation Amendment (Political Campaigners) 2021 ## What it does This law tightens rules on who has to publicly declare their political campaign spending. It lowers the spending threshold that triggers mandatory registration as a "political campaigner" from $500,000 down to $100,000. It also changes how the threshold is calculated — instead of needing to spend two-thirds of the disclosure limit, organisations now only need to spend one-third of it to trigger registration requirements. ## Why it matters More political groups will now have to publicly declare their campaign spending, making it easier for voters to see who's funding political messages. This increases transparency around election-related advertising and campaign activity, so there's less "dark money" flying around without public visibility. ## Key details - **The $100,000 trigger**: Any person or organisation planning to spend this much on political campaigning in a financial year must now register and disclose their spending - **One-third threshold**: Groups hitting one-third of the disclosure threshold (rather than two-thirds) must also register - **When it starts**: The law took effect the day after it received Royal Assent, and applies retroactively to financial years that started before the law commenced — meaning some groups had 90 days to register if they'd already met the spending threshold

🔒 Voting closed — this bill has been decided by parliament