Authorisation of electoral material

The following table is a summary of the authorisation requirements of electoral material during the regulated election period. More information is provided below.

Definitions

The address of a person means an address, including a full street address and suburb or locality that is located in Australia at which the person can usually be contacted during the day. The address does not include a post office box.

A street address of the premises does not include a post office box number or a DX number.

An electoral participant means a political party, a candidate, Members of Parliament, a third-party campaigner or an associated entity of a party.

T-shirts, lapel badges, balloons, etc

The following items are exempt from the electoral material authorisation requirements and are not required to be registered for distribution on election day:

• T-shirts, lapel buttons, lapel badges, pens, pencils and balloons or
• a business or visiting card that promotes the candidacy of any person in an election or
• a letter or other card that bears the name and address of the sender that does not contain a representation or purported representation of a ballot paper for use in an election.

Electoral advertising in newspapers

Advertisements placed in newspapers require the name and address (a post office box is not acceptable) of the person who authorised the material. The printer is deemed to be the printer of the newspaper.

Advertisements placed in newspapers on election day do not need to be registered.

SMS

SMS communication containing electoral matter must contain the authorisation, however an SMS is not required to include the relevant name and address provided that:

• the message contains a hyperlink to a website where the name and address are published and the website remains active for the duration of the regulated period, or
• the name and address are included in a separate SMS sent immediately after the message containing the electoral material and the messages are both sent from the same number.

Information about telemarketing and spam as it relates to political matters is available at the Australian Communications and Media Authority website.

Robocalls

Automated telephone calls containing electoral matter (also known as ‘robocalls’) must contain the name and address of an individual on whose instructions the call was made, in a clear voice, spoken in English. Automated telephone calls include automated “push poll” (attempting to sway or alter prospective voters’ view) or traditional automated polls that contain electoral matter.

Bulk letters and emails

Emails containing electoral matter sent to multiple or ‘bulk’ recipients must include the authorisation. It is not sufficient to provide the authorisation at a separate URL link included in the email.

Letters containing electoral matter posted to multiple or ‘bulk’ recipients must include the name and address of the sender. If a letter contains a ballot paper representation, the details of the printer are also required.

A letter or email sent to a person in reply to a letter or email from that person, or a letter or email sent for personal purposes, does not require the authorisation.

Advertisements on electronic billboards, digital road signs or other similar device

A person must not, during the regulated period, display any electoral matter on an electronic billboard, digital road sign or other similar device, unless the matter contains, in visible, legible characters, the name and address of the person on whose instructions the matter was displayed.

Electoral advertising on radio and television

Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth):

• Certain authorisation details (called ‘required particulars’) must be announced in political advertising broadcast on radio and television. For a radio broadcast, the required particulars must be announced at the end of the advertisement. For a television broadcast, the required particulars must be announced and shown at the end of the advertisement. The required particulars will be dependent on who authorised the broadcast, e.g. a registered political party, an other entity, or a natural person
• Political advertising must not be broadcast on radio and television from midnight on the Thursday morning before election day until the close of the poll on election day. This is known as the election ‘blackout’.

This is general information only. The Broadcasting Services Act is federal legislation administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Refer to information on ACMA’s website. Enquiries about the required particulars and the election blackout should be directed to ACMA.

Social media

Note: electoral participant means a political party, a candidate, Members of Parliament, a third-party campaigner or an associated entity of a party.

Electoral participants must ensure their staff are aware of the authorisation requirements in relation to electoral material, particularly when posting publicly on social media during the regulated period. 

Posts by electoral participants where no amount is paid to the platform

If no amount was paid to the social media platform provider in connection with the publication of the post the authorisation must include the electoral participant’s name and address.

Authorisation may be displayed:

• on the social media account profile for that account, or
• on a website that is directly linked to in the post.

Example: The relevant name and address for the electoral material is included in the “about”, “bio” or “impressum” part of the webpage or social media account profile of the person who made the post, or on whose behalf the post was made, that is accessible via a hyperlink or URL included or embedded in or accompanying the post.

The profile or website on which the name and address is published must remain publicly available until the end of the regulated period. For any link to a website where the authorisation is shown in a video or animation, the relevant name and address must be legibly shown for a period of at least three seconds.

Posts not made by an electoral participant where no amount is paid to publisher or platform

Social media posts not made by or on behalf of an electoral participant do not require an authorisation provided that no amount was paid nor any benefit given to the person who published the post, or the social media platform provider.

Paid social media posts

Authorisation must include the person’s name and address. Authorisation must be displayed wherever the electoral matter appears, in the content that contains the electoral matter, such as the text, voice, image, video or animation.

For Twitter only, if the authorisation is too long you may use the ‘bio’ section of the relevant account if it remains in place until the end of the regulated period. Other content such as images and video containing electoral matter that may be attached to a Twitter post must include the authorisation.

Authorisations provided via links should remain active until the end of the regulated period.

For Twitter, if the authorisation is too long you may use the ‘bio’ section of the relevant account if it remains in place until the end of the regulated period. Other content such as images and video containing electoral matter that may be attached to a Twitter post must include the authorisation.

Websites and other forms of electronic media and advertising

Websites, applications and other forms of electronic media and advertising containing electoral material must include the authorisation. This includes material that may appear surrounding, in the background of, or laid over the website or application content.

If the authorisation would be too long to include in search text advertisements, such as Google Ads, the authorisation may be provided at a URL link included in the search advertisement. Any authorisation provided via a URL link must remain active until the end of the regulated period.