Section 130ZR of the Electoral Act 1985 requires any person who has incurred political expenditure of more than $5,310 during the financial year 1 July 2018 – 30 June 2019 to lodge an Annual Political Expenditure Return with the South Australian Electoral Commissioner. The return must be lodged by Monday 23 September 2019.

If a person does NOT have any disclosable political expenditure, then they are NOT required to lodge a return (ie spent $5,310 or under). Nil returns do not need to be lodged.

The Annual Political Expenditure Return can be lodged via the Funding and Disclosure Portal. An Annual Political Expenditure Return Guide and a Political Expenditure Guide are available on the guide page.

Note:

  1. Members of the South Australian Parliament and the Crown are excluded from the requirement to lodge this return.
  2. The lodgement obligation extends to any person incurring political expenditure over the threshold. A ‘person’ also includes an unincorporated association (see section 130A).
  3. The South Australian disclosure scheme only relates to State matters. Therefore, expenditure on Federal or local government campaigning, are not considered ‘political expenditure’ under the scheme.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Funding, Disclosure & Registration Branch on 7424 7400.