Prohibited donors

The Electoral Act 1992 (the Act) bans some potential donors from giving gifts to ACT political entities. The Act also bans ACT political entities from accepting gifts from prohibited donors.

Read about funding and disclosure obligations.

Prohibited donors

Prohibited donors are:

• Property developers
• Close associates of property developers
• Foreign entities
• A person acting on behalf of a property developer, close associate of a property developer or a foreign entity

Property developers and close associates

Property developers include for-profit corporations developing residential or commercial land for sale or lease.

Close associates to those developers include related body corporates, domestic partners and trust beneficiaries.

For comprehensive definitions of property developers and close associates, view the Prohibited donors factsheet.

Declaration a corporation is not a property developer

A person can apply to the Electoral Commissioner for a declaration that a corporation is not a property developer.

To make the declaration, the Commissioner must be satisfied, based on the information provided, that it is more likely than not that the corporation is not a property developer.

Declarations are valid for 12 months.

To apply:

1. Complete the Application for declaration that a corporation is not a property developer [PDF 641KB]
2. Submit it:
   • by email to elections@act.gov.au
   • by post to GPO Box 172, Canberra ACT 2601.

Foreign entities

Foreign entities include individuals:

• who aren’t Australian citizens
• who aren't enrolled on the Commonwealth or ACT electoral roll
• whose principal place of residence isn't in Australia.

It also includes companies:

• which aren’t incorporated in Australia
• which do not have their head office in Australia
• whose principal place of activity isn't in Australia.

For comprehensive definitions of foreign entities, view the Prohibited donors factsheet.

Exceptions for federal election use

The Act makes exceptions for prohibited gifts:

• given expressly for use in a federal election
• kept in a federal election account
• used only for a federal election.

This exception is provided under the ACT’s laws. These gifts and their donors may be prohibited at the federal level.

Read about financial disclosure on the Australian Electoral Commission’s website.

Responsibilities of political entities

Political entities must ensure they do not receive or accept gifts from prohibited donors.

To avoid potential penalties,  they should take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure a gift isn’t from a prohibited donor.

Reasonable steps

Reasonable steps can include:

• giving potential donors written notice that they won’t accept gifts from prohibited donors
• asking the person giving the gift whether they’re a prohibited donor
• getting a written declaration from the donor that they’re not a prohibited donor.

Compliance investigations

We conduct regular compliance investigations into whether political parties have received gifts from prohibited donors.

Read about prohibited donor investigations.