30 June 2015 disclosure lodgement statistics
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For the year ending 30 June 2015 the NSW Electoral Commission expected to receive more than 4,500 declarations of political donations and electoral expenditure from the following individuals and organisations:
- political parties
- members of Parliament
- state election candidates and Legislative Council groups
- third-party campaigners
- members of local councils
- local government election candidates and groups
- major political donors.
The following information is a summary of the disclosure requirements and statistics for the 2015 reporting period. The statistics are current as at 5 December 2015. For more information about particular disclosures go to our disclosure search facility.
Extension of due date for lodging declarations
Declarations were required to be lodged with the NSW Electoral Commission by 22 September 2015 except for major political donors who were required to lodge their declarations by 20 October 2015. A person can be given an extension of time to lodge the declaration if the NSW Electoral Commission is satisfied there is good cause do so and the person requests the extension before the due date.
The due date for lodging a declaration was extended in 558 cases as shown in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Extension of due date for lodging declarations
|
Stakeholder type
|
Request received |
Request approved |
Request refused | Request made out of time
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
20 |
20 |
|
1 |
|
Elected members |
129 |
129 |
|
2 |
|
Candidates |
400 |
400 |
|
1 |
|
Third-party campaigners |
8 |
7 |
1 | 1 |
| Donors
|
2 | 2 |
|
|
|
Total |
559 |
558 |
1 | 5 |
On-time lodgement rates
Approximately 4,685 declarations were required to be lodged for the reporting period (refer Table 2 below). 68% of disclosures were lodged by the due date taking into account extended due dates. The on-time lodgement rate increases to 79% when political donor lodgement rates are excluded.
Elected members include members of Parliament and local government councillors. Candidates and groups include those for state and local government elections. Third-party campaigners are only relevant for state elections.
Table 2: Disclosure obligations and declarations made by category
|
|
No. of disclosure obligations |
Lodged on time |
Lodged late | Not lodged | On-time lodgement rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
53 |
43 |
6 | 4 | 81% |
|
Elected members |
1,646 |
1,367 |
116 | 162 | 83% |
|
Groups |
24 |
15 |
5 | 4 | 63% |
|
Candidates |
1,015 |
723 |
204 | 90 | 71% |
|
Third-party campaigners |
52 |
44 |
6 | 2 | 85% |
| Donors (individuals)
|
1,169
|
609
|
85 | 475 | 52% |
| Donors (entities)
|
726
|
369
|
58 | 299 | 51% |
|
Total |
4,685 |
3,170 |
480 | 1,036 | 68% |
Declarations not accompanied by an auditor's certificate
Declarations (except by major political donors) are required to be certified by a registered company auditor before they are lodged with the NSW Electoral Commission. The NSW Electoral Commission may waive this requirement under certain circumstances, for example, where the person or organisation is not entitled to public funding for the state election campaign. The NSW Electoral Commission waived this requirement in 1,518 cases.
Table 3 below shows the number of declarations that have been identified as lodged without an auditor's certificate and where the NSW Electoral Commission has not waived the requirement. The table also shows the number of people whose audit requirement has been waived:
Table 3: No audit certificate provided/Audit waivers
|
Stakeholder Type |
No audit certificate & requirement not waived |
Audit requirement waived |
|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
0 |
N/A |
|
Elected members |
156 |
1,164 |
|
Groups |
1 |
20 |
|
Candidates |
24 |
334 |
|
Third-party campaigners |
1 |
0 |
|
Total |
182 |
1,518 |
Political party declarations
Political parties are required to lodge with their declarations copies of the audited annual financial statements of the party and associated financial records. These records assist the NSW Electoral Commission in undertaking compliance audits of the parties.
Table 4 below shows the number of financial documents that were lodged and not lodged with political party declarations.
Table 4: Lodgement of financial records of parties
|
Document |
Lodged with declaration |
Not Lodged with declaration |
|---|---|---|
|
Audited financial statements |
19 |
31 |
|
Financial records |
18 |
32 |
|
Chart of accounts |
18 |
32 |
|
Trial balance |
20 |
30 |
|
Bank statements |
28 |
22 |
For this reporting period the disclosure forms for political parties requested additional information. The purpose of the additional information was to better assist the NSW Electoral Commission in undertaking compliance audits and to provide more transparency to the public as to the details of political donations and electoral expenditure. The additional information requested on the form was for the following:
- for reportable political donations: to whom, or for whose benefit, a political donation was made;
- for reportable loans: the term of a reportable loan; and
- for electoral expenditure: for which electorate electoral communication expenditure was incurred.
One parliamentary party provided information as to who benefitted from political donations by identifying the candidate or electorate. Five parliamentary parties indicated the political donations received by each party were for the party's benefit. One parliamentary party did not include any detail as to who benefitted from the political donations made to the party.
Two parliamentary parties disclosed reportable loans and both parties disclosed information about the terms of each loan.
All parties have identified whether electoral communication expenditure was incurred for a particular electorate, for NSW or for both.
'Nil' declarations
A declaration is colloquially known as a 'nil' declaration where it contains no political donations or electoral expenditure.
Table 5 below shows for each category the number of 'nil' declarations.
Table 5: Nil declarations
|
Stakeholder Type |
Nil declaration (No.) |
Nil declaration (% of declarations lodged) |
|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
12 |
24 |
|
Elected members |
968 |
65 |
|
Groups |
19 |
95 |
|
Candidates |
380 |
41 |
|
Third-party campaigners |
8 |
16 |
|
Donors (individuals) |
4 |
0.6 |
|
Donors (entities) |
1 |
0.2 |
|
Total |
1,392 |
38 |
Electoral Expenditure incurred
Table 6 below shows the disclosed amount of electoral expenditure incurred (amounts are displayed as millions):
Table 6: Electoral expenditure incurred ($ millions)
|
|
Advertising |
Employing staff |
Internet and utilities |
Office accommodation |
Production and distribution of election material |
Research |
Travel |
Other |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
$14.20 |
$2.30 |
$1.00 |
$0.20 |
$4.00 |
$1.40 |
$0.30 |
$3.00 |
$26.40 |
|
Elected members |
$0.10 |
$0.00 |
$0.10 |
$0.00 |
$0.10 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.10 |
$0.40 |
|
Candidates |
$5.50 |
$0.50 |
$0.90 |
$0.20 |
$5.80 |
$0.30 |
$0.10 |
$0.50 |
$13.80 |
|
Groups |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
TPC's |
$4.00 |
$0.40 |
$0.20 |
$0.00 |
$0.60 |
$0.30 |
$0.10 |
- |
$5.60 |
|
Total |
$23.80 |
$3.20 |
$2.20 |
$0.40 |
$10.50 |
$2.00 |
$0.50 |
$3.60 |
$46.20 |
Political donations made
Table 7 below shows the disclosed amount of political donations made:
|
|
Small donations |
Reportable donations |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
|
Elected members |
$168,000 |
$648,000 |
$816,000 |
|
Candidates |
$103,000 |
$352,000 |
$455,000 |
|
Groups |
$1,844 |
$0 |
$1,844 |
|
TPC's |
$24,000 |
$309,000 |
$333,000 |
|
Donors (individuals) |
- |
$686,000 |
$686,000 |
|
Donors (entities) |
- |
$569,000 |
$569,000 |
|
Total |
$296,844 |
$2,564,000 |
$2,860,844 |
Political donations received
Table 8 below shows the disclosed amount of political donations received. As you can see, the value of donations received by political parties and others far exceeds the value of donations made by political donors as shown in Table 7 above. This is due to a number of factors including:
-
Donors have a lower rate of disclosing political donations made compared to those who receive political donations, and
-
Donors are not required to disclose political donations valued at less than $1,000.
Table 8: Political donations received
|
|
Annual subscriptions |
Small donations |
Reportable donations |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Parties |
$3,600,000 |
$4,301,000 |
$5,493,000 |
$13,394,000 |
|
Elected members |
- |
$108,000 |
$90,000 |
$198,000 |
|
Candidates |
- |
$1,395,000 |
$634,000 |
$2,029,000 |
|
Groups |
- |
$0 |
$0 | $0 |
|
TPC's | - |
- |
$8,415 |
$8,415 |
| Total | $3,600,000
|
$5,804,000
|
$6,225,415 |
$15,629,415 |