Consultation - Independent review of Victoria’s electoral and political donations system

Overview

The Victorian Government has established a Panel of three members to conduct an independent review (Review) of the operation of the 2018 amendments to the Electoral Act 2002 (the Act) which included political finance reforms for Victoria.

The Panel will also consider donations and expenditure-related recommendations from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s Special Report on corruption risks associated with donations and lobbying. These recommendations propose broad changes to the political finance regulatory regime, including the development of a regulatory framework for local government donations consistent with the state regime.

The Panel will produce a main report covering these matters by 24 November 2023.

The Panel will also consider introducing minimum party administration requirements for major political parties receiving public funding and produce a supplementary report by 24 February 2024.

How to participate

To support the Review, the Panel is seeking your views on a range of issues relating to Victoria’s political finance and electoral scheme.

The Panel is conducting a public consultation process and invites you to prepare a submission on matters including:

• the operation of the political finance provisions, including disclosure, and the scheme’s potential application for local government
• the possible introduction of expenditure caps including how these should be applied and enforced
• impacts of the 2018 reforms on third party campaigners, small community groups and not for profit entities
• monitoring of, and compliance with, the electoral and political finance scheme
• the interaction between Victoria’s electoral and political donations scheme with other Australian jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth
• the public funding of political parties and independent members of Parliament
• the possible introduction of bans or limitations on political donations from specific industries
• the effectiveness of the 2018 electronic assisted voting amendments which allowed telephone voting for specific elector groups
• minimum party administration requirements for major political parties
• any other relevant matters.

These matters are explored further in the Discussion Paper and may support preparation of your submission.

Submissions should take PDF format and be sent to electoral.review@dpc.vic.gov.au by 5 pm on Friday 30 June 2023.

If you would prefer to provide an oral submission, please contact the Secretariat at electoral.review@dpc.vic.gov.au.

The Panel may request your attendance at a face-to-face consultation as part of engagement in the review process. Your organisation will be contacted by email if this is the case.

How will your submission be used?

The Panel will collate, analyse, and evaluate all information provided in submissions, and will help inform the Panel’s final reports and recommendations.

To promote transparency and accountability, the Panel will publish the submissions on this web page. Names / organisations of respondents will be included in the publication of submission, however contact details will be redacted.

Please notify the Secretariat if you do not want your name or submission published, noting publication will be at the discretion of the Panel.

Feedback may also inform future consultation questions about Victoria’s political finance and electoral scheme.