EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL 2007  -  SERIAL 76

LORAINE BRAHAM MLA - INDEPENDENT MEMBER FOR BRAITLING

The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Electoral Act to require disclosure of all electoral expenditure of individual candidates by political parties for Northern Territory elections.

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1.	Short title
When passed, the bill will be known as the Electoral Amendment Act 2007

Clause 2.	Act amended
The Act to be amended is the Electoral Act.

Clause 3.	Amendment of section 200 (Returns of electoral expenditure)
Section 200 requires returns of electoral expenditure to be provided to the Electoral Commission after an election.

The current section requires the reporting agent of each candidate to use the approved form to detail all electoral expenditure incurred by or with the authority of that candidate.  In practice, reporting agents of political parties have provided this information as a total amount of expenditure for all candidates, rather than by individual candidates.

The amendment adds a new sub-section specifically stating that reporting agents must provide a return displaying details of all electoral expenditure that was authorised by the party and was specifically attributable to each of the party's candidates for the election.