Amendments made to the Electoral Act 1992 by the Electoral Amendment Act 2020, passed by the Legislative Assembly on 27 August 2020, will commence on Thursday 1 July 2021, the ACT Electoral Commissioner, Mr Damian Cantwell AM CSC said today.

“The amendments include a prohibition on political donations by property developers, their close associates, or a person acting on their behalf to a political entity in the ACT. The prohibition also extends to the acceptance of such gifts by an ACT political entity”, Mr Cantwell said.

A transitional provision banning such gifts has been in place since the end of the most recent ACT election, 18 October 2020, however the related penalty for a breach of the law will increase from 1 July 2021.

“The amendments also make changes to the timing for the regular reporting of gifts totalling $1,000 or more and introduce a penalty for the dissemination or authorisation of electoral advertising that contains a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent,” Mr Cantwell said today.

For further details on the new provisions visit the Elections ACT website at www.elections.act.gov.au

Enquiries should be made to the office of the Electoral Commissioner on (02) 6205 0033 or to elections@act.gov.au