- Date
-
30 Mar 2017
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
-
Act
-
Portfolio
-
Special Minister of State
- Summary
-
Implements the Government’s response to the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ report The 2016 Federal Election: Interim Report on the authorisation of voter communication by amending the:
Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
to: apply the electoral authorisation requirements to modern communication channels; require all paid electoral advertising to be authorised; require entities subject to the electoral funding and financial disclosure regime to include this information in their political communications; ensure the obligation to authorise electoral and referendum matter primarily rests with those responsible for the decision to communicate it; and replace the current criminal non-compliance regime with a civil penalty regime to be administered by the Australian Electoral Commission; Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984
, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1993
, Broadcasting Services Act 1992
and Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991
to harmonise authorisation requirements across broadcasting, electoral and referendum legislation; Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946
to make consequential amendments; and Criminal Code Act 1995
to introduce an offence which criminalises false representations in relation to a Commonwealth body.