2024 NSW Local Government elections: Political participants bulletin No.1

Bulletin No.1 
Issued 10 May 2024

Election date

The 2024 NSW Local Government elections will be held on Saturday, 14 September 2024. Key dates for the election can be found on our website.

Candidate information webinars

A series of webinars will be held for candidates and other political participants in the lead-up to the elections. The first webinar will be held on Tuesday, 21 May at 11am and will cover the following topics:

• election timeline
• electoral rolls
• online services
• the difference between registration and nomination of candidates
• electoral material (including how-to-vote material)
• compliance, allegations and offences
• voting options
• counting and results timeline.

Each webinar will be recorded and published on our website. Information about subsequent webinars and registrations is available on our website and will be published in our political participant bulletins.

Candidate, group and third-party campaigners must register to start campaigning 

Candidates, groups of candidates and third-party campaigners must register for the election before being able to lawfully accept political donations or make payments for electoral expenditure.

Candidate registrations for the election close at 12 noon Wednesday, 14 August 2024. 

Being registered as a candidate or group is a separate process to being nominated. Candidates and groups who do not register before being nominated are taken to be registered once they have been validly nominated. From that time, political donations can lawfully be accepted, and payments made for electoral expenditure for the election.

Apply to be registered as a candidate or group using Funding and Disclosure Online.

The details of registered candidates and groups are included in a publicly available register called the Register of Candidates. A copy of the Register is published on our website. If the registered details of a candidate or group change, the candidate or group must notify the NSW Electoral Commission of the change within 30 days. This can be done using Funding and Disclosure Online. 

Compliance with electoral funding laws 

The Electoral Funding Act 2018 determines who is responsible for complying with electoral funding laws, including fulfilling the following requirements: 

• making disclosures of political donations and electoral expenditure 
• accepting political donations and making payments for electoral expenditure 
• operating a campaign account and keeping financial and accounting records.

Disclosure obligations

Candidates, groups and third-party campaigners have a statutory obligation to report political donations made or received and electoral expenditure incurred to the NSW Electoral Commission by submitting a disclosure. A disclosure must be lodged by registered candidates, groups and third-party campaigners even if they have not received or made any donation or incurred any electoral expenditure during the relevant period.

The person responsible for submitting a local government candidate disclosure is the candidate. The person responsible for making a disclosure for a local government group of candidates is the lead candidate. The members of the group must lodge their own candidate disclosure. The person responsible for a third-party campaigner is the official agent. First time candidates may not be familiar with disclosure requirements, but it is important to understand, and comply with, your obligations to avoid committing an offence. Read more about your disclosure obligations.

Political donations must be reported every six months, and are next due to be disclosed by 12 August 2024 - add to calendar. Disclosures of electoral expenditure must be made annually, and the next due date is 23 September 2024 - add to calendar. 

Further information is available on our website.

Campaign accounts 

Candidates and groups must open a campaign account before accepting $1,000 or more in political donations or incurring $1,000 in electoral expenditure. All political donations made to, or for the benefit of, a candidate or group, which are used to incur electoral expenditure, must be paid into the campaign account and electoral expenditure must be paid from the campaign account. 

If a candidate or group has a campaign account open from a previous election, the account must be cleared before being used for the 2024 election. Any balance left in the account from the previous election must be dispersed in accordance with the rules, as outlined on our website. 

Third-party campaigners must open a campaign account before paying for electoral expenditure incurred during the capped expenditure period (1 July 2024 to election day). 

Further information about operating a campaign account is available on our website.

Information and support

NSW Electoral Commission website

Our website contains information about the elections, including key election dates, being a candidate, funding and disclosure obligations, and voting options. Information about voting centre locations, vote counting and election results will be published on our website as information is available.

Candidate helpdesk

We operate a helpdesk specifically for candidates who have questions in relation to their candidature or the election process.

The helpdesk is operational Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and can be contacted on 1300 022 011 or via email at candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au.

Administration of the 2024 elections in Fairfield and Liverpool

Fairfield City Council and Liverpool City Council have engaged an electoral services provider other than the NSW Electoral Commission to administer their 2024 elections.

Information provided by the NSW Electoral Commission about the registration of candidates, groups and third-party campaigners, political donations, electoral expenditure and disclosures still applies to the elections for these two councils. 

You should contact these two councils directly, however, about the administration of candidate nominations, registration of electoral material, polling places, voting and election results in those areas.