✦ Plain-English Summary

Electoral Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) 2020

What it does

This bill makes several technical updates to Australia's electoral laws, mainly affecting how political donations are reported and how votes are counted in certain situations. It also sets up a new redistribution committee for the Australian Capital Territory to redraw electoral boundaries.

Why it matters

These changes tighten the rules around political donations and improve how electoral processes work, which helps keep elections fair and transparent. Voters get clearer information about who's funding political campaigns.

Key details

• Donation thresholds adjusted: The bill lowers the percentage of votes a political party needs to receive before they're required to report donations publicly—moving from "more than 4%" to "at least 4%" of formal votes.

• Two-stage rollout: Some rules kick in immediately after the bill becomes law, while others (including the ACT redistribution changes) come into effect later when the government officially announces them—but they must start within 6 months.

• Who's affected: Political parties, candidates, and donors will need to follow updated reporting requirements; voters in the ACT may eventually see changes to their electoral boundaries.

Official Description

Amends the: Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: clarify the interaction between federal, state and territory electoral funding and disclosure regimes following the High Court decision in Spence v Queensland [2019] HCA 15; make technical amendments in relation to entity registration and public election funding rules; and allow a senior Australian Electoral Commission staff member rather than a senior Divisional Returning Officer to be on the Redistribution Committee for the Australian Capital Territory; Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to amend various aspects of voting and scrutiny processes; and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to extend the electronically assisted voting method to Australians working in Antarctica.

Committee Referrals

Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

No votes yet.

No votes were recorded for this bill.