Page 2457 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012

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Clauses 58 to 61, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 62.

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (10.53): I move amendment No 16 circulated in my name [see schedule 4 at page 2472].

This amendment is intended to correct references in relation to the publication of annual returns, which is dealt with in section 243(3) of the bill. Amendment 16 is intended to bring forward the date of the publication of annual returns from the beginning of February in the next year to the beginning of September after the end of the financial year to which the return relates. As it is currently drafted, section 243(3) inadvertently refers to the year of the election to which the return relates rather than to the financial year. This amendment corrects that error.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 62, as amended, agreed to.

Clauses 63 to 69, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 70.

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (10.54): I move amendment No 17 circulated in my name [see schedule 4 at page 2472].

For the 2011-12 reporting year, parties are not required to take account of individual gifts received of less than $1,000 in determining which donors they have to identify in their annual returns under Electoral Act sections 230 and 232, which continue to apply, under the transitional provisions in the bill, for the 2011-12 financial year. This gap in recording is in part covered by the requirement under section 221A of the Electoral Act for donors who give amounts that sum to more than $1,000 in the reporting year, regardless of the size of any individual amounts, to lodge annual returns. The amendment bill closes this gap in party reporting by requiring that all gifts received by parties after 1 July this year that total to $1,000 or more be reported in their annual returns.

While section 221A remains in force until 30 June this year, it is omitted from the act after 1 July. However, the amendment act has no transitional provision requiring donors to submit returns to the commissioner for the 2011-12 financial year. In order to avoid opening a loophole in reporting of gifts received for the remainder of the 2011-12 financial year, the new transitional amendment in proposed new section 506A applies section 221A for the purposes of the 2011-12 reporting year. It also requires that donor returns be submitted by 31 July this year, in line with the requirements for reporting by parties, MLAs and associated entities for the 2011-12


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