Special assistance funding is a form of public funding under Division 5 of the Electoral Act 1985.
It is available to be paid as a half yearly entitlement to eligible registered political parties who claim reimbursement of administrative expenditure.
Registered political parties must meet the following eligibility criteria to receive special assistance funding:
- At least 1 member of the party must have been a member of the Parliament of South Australia for all or part of the half-yearly period; and
- The party must have been a registered political party on polling day for the last preceding general election and continued to be registered for all of the half-yearly period; and
- The agent of the party submitted a valid claim to the Electoral Commissioner setting out the administrative expenditure incurred by the party during that half-yearly period.
Special assistance funding claims under Division 5 are limited to the following maximum amounts:
- For a party with 5 or fewer members of Parliament - $35,000 (indexed)
- For a party with 6 or more members of Parliament - $60,000 (indexed)
Since Part 13A came into effect, the Electoral Commissioner has paid the amounts shown in the table below for special assistance funding claims.
| Australian Labor Party | Liberal Party | The Greens | SA Best | Advance SA | Dignity Party | Family First | Australian Conservatives | |
| Date | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ |
| 1/01/21 - 30/06/21 | 66,109.00 | 66,109.00 | 38,564.00 | 38,564.00 | - | - | - | - |
| 1/07/20 - 31/12/20 | 66,109.00 | 66,109.00 | 38,564.00 | 29,071.53 | - | - | - | - |
| 1/01/20 - 30/06/20 | 64,568.00 | 64,568.00 | 37,665.00 | 37,665.00 | - | - | - | - |
| 1/07/19 - 31/12/19 | 64,568.00 | 64,568.00 | 37,665.00 | 37,665.00 | 952.04 | - | - | - |
| 1/01/19 - 30/06/19 | 63,711.00 | 63,711.00 | 37,165.00 | 37,165.00 | 219.24 | - | - | - |
| 1/07/18 - 31/12/18 | 63,711.00 | 63,711.00 | 37,165.00 | 37,165.00 | - | - | - | - |
| 1/01/18 - 30/06/18 | 62,283.00 | 62,283.00 | 36.333.00 | - | - | - | - | 36,333.00 |
| 1/07/17 - 31/12/17 | 62,283.00 | 62,283.00 | 36,333.00 | - | - | 36,333.00 | - | - |
| 1/01/17 - 30/06/17 | 60,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 35,000.00 | - | - | 29,672.00 | - | - |
| 1/07/16 - 31/12/16 | 12,217.00 | 12,217.00 | 7,127.00 | - | - | 7,127.00 | 6,218.39 | - |
| 1/01/16 - 30/06/16 | 12,217.00 | 12,217.00 | 7,127.00 | - | - | 7,127.00 | 4,403.19 | - |
| 1/07/15 - 31/12/15 | 12,137.00 | 12,137.00 | 7,080.00 | - | - | 7,080.00 | 825.00 | - |
| Total | 609,913.00 | 609,913.00 | 355,788.00 | 217.295.33 | 1,171.28 | 87,339.00 | 11,446.58 | 36,333.00 |
Special assistance paid to date $1,929,199.39
One-off special assistance funding
Section 130UA was inserted into the Electoral Act 1985 on 9 June 2017 and expired on 31 August 2017. This section permitted eligible registered political parties to claim a one-off payment of special assistance funding for prescribed administrative expenditure for the purpose of complying with Part 13A of the Act.
Eligible registered political parties who wished to make a claim were required to submit a claim in writing to the Electoral Commissioner by 31 July 2017. This section limited the claim to the following maximum amounts:
- For parties with 5 or fewer members of Parliament - $56,000
- For parties with 6 or more members of Parliament - $96,000
The Electoral Commissioner paid the amounts shown in the table below for one-off special assistance payment in 2017. These payments were in addition to any entitlements to half yearly payments of special assistance funding paid under Division 5 of the Act.
| Party | Claim |
| Australian Labor Party | $96,000.00 |
| Liberal Party | $96,000.00 |
| The Greens | $10,013.79 |
| Dignity Party | $43,861.44 |
| Total | $245,875.23 |