Compliance approach

Purpose

The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) maintains a Compliance and Enforcement Policy for Funding and Disclosure Obligations (the Compliance Policy), which is available on the ECQ’s website. The Compliance Policy outlines the ECQ’s compliance and enforcement activities and possible responses when working with stakeholders and the public, using collaborative and cooperative approaches to help achieve desired compliance objectives.

This Compliance Approach provides specific detail about what activities the ECQ will be conducting at each stage of the 2024 state general election, outlines the ECQ’s commitments when performing its compliance functions, and sets the ECQ’s expectations about how candidates and other electoral participants will conduct themselves and engage with the ECQ.

This Compliance Approach should be read in conjunction with the Compliance Policy.

The ECQ’s role

Queensland’s electoral laws are designed to ensure and reinforce the transparent and equitable conduct of elections of Queensland’s Parliament. One of the ECQ’s functions is to administer and promote compliance with the funding and disclosure provisions in the Electoral Act 1992.

An important part of delivering on these objectives is to monitor compliance with the rules and regulations which apply to state elections and to undertake enforcement action when necessary.

The ECQ also engages in post-election compliance reviews. These compliance reviews are informed by risk, and involve the ECQ contacting candidates, registered political parties and other stakeholders to provide information or clarification about potential issues with their election disclosures (or non-disclosures). Compliance reviews may result in warning letters, fines, or prosecutions.

The ECQ does not regulate:

  • issues involving the caretaker conventions, or use of government or parliamentary resources during the election period
  • decisions of Members of Parliament made in their capacity as elected officials
  • the behaviour or conduct of candidates or their workers[1]
  • content of political advertising (other than ensuring proper authorisation)[2]
  • the placement of signs on roads, private property, etc.
  • complaints about corrupt conduct.

Context of the 2024 state general election

The 2024 state general election will be the first general election since caps on political donations and stricter regulations about state campaign accounts came into effect on 1 July 2022. While this is significant, the underlying disclosure framework has not changed.  For example:

  • timeframes for disclosing gifts and loans received, and electoral expenditure incurred, have not changed since 2017
  • the ban on donations from property developers has been in place since October 2018
  • the requirement for third parties to register for an election and complete an election summary return has been in place since August 2020
  • the regulations relating to the number, placement, and size of signs at polling booths have been in place since 2020.

This consistency in the underlying laws presents significant opportunities for the ECQ to work with stakeholders to improve compliance. Equally, the ECQ expects repeat participants – particularly those who contest both the 2020 and 2024 elections – to continue to comply with their obligations. If non-compliance was identified in previous elections, the ECQ expects candidates to improve their voluntarily compliance.

If a person or entity has previously been prosecuted or issued a fine or warning letter, the ECQ expects that they will not commit the same offence (or offences) again in 2024. If this does eventuate, the ECQ will likely undertake stronger enforcement action (such as issuing fines instead of a warning letter or undertaking prosecution).

Promoting compliance and responding to non-compliance

The ECQ is committed to ensuring that all electoral participants who want to voluntarily comply are able to do so. The ECQ does this by providing reasonable assistance with the use of systems, providing direct guidance to participants, publishing educational material, and ensuring systems contain functionality to enable compliance.

The focus of the ECQ’s resources will vary depending on the election phase, as outlined below:

Election phase

Focus of resources

Before notice of election

  • Educating candidates (and their agents) who announce or indicate an intention to contest the state election.
  • Engaging with registered political parties so they understand their obligations and record-keeping requirements.
  • Processing applications for third-party registrations in a timely way and providing education once a registration is approved.

Election period (starting on the day the notice of election is issued, ending at close of polls)

  • Addressing notifications about failure to authorise election material.
  • Managing notifications of non-compliance impacting the integrity of the election or  transparency of election participants’ election funding.
  • Monitoring for compliance with political donation caps (based on real-time disclosure data).
  • Enforcing signage regulations during the voting period.

Post-election day

(election summary return period)

  • Assisting participants to comply with their election summary return requirements.
  • Issuing fines for failure to lodge an election summary return (after election summary return due date).
  • Monitoring for non-compliance which can be identified through the election summary return process.
  • Processing election funding claims and verifying against disclosure data.
  • Undertaking audits on preselection ballots undertaken by registered political parties.

2024 election compliance review program

  • Checking for full and complete disclosure of electoral expenditure incurred, and gifts/loans received.
  • Identifying incorrect use of dedicated bank accounts.
  • Third party (donor) disclosure compliance program (prioritising large donations and frequent donors).

Entire period

  • Issuing fines, warning letters or commencing prosecutions (as appropriate) for non-compliance identified as a result of compliance activities.

During an election event, the ECQ will likely receive a large number of notifications about potential non-compliance. The issues will vary in complexity, significance, and overall impact on the integrity of the election, and must be prioritised accordingly. While all notifications about non-compliance will be reviewed, the ECQ cannot commit to resolving all reports of non-compliance before election day.

The ECQ will consider reports of non-compliance and work to resolve those deemed a priority. When reviewing reports, consideration will be given to whether the report includes appropriate evidence, such as real-time photographs and/or video (e.g. of unauthorised election material), correspondence, statutory declarations, etc. Reports of non-compliance based on conjecture or hearsay will generally not be prioritised. Reports which are complex and likely to require thorough investigation will naturally take longer to resolve, most likely after election day.

The ECQ generally treats compliance matters confidentially. Any person who reports non-compliance should not expect to be notified of the specifics of the outcome of their report (as per the Information Privacy Act 2009).

Case Studies

A candidate for the 2020 state election exceeded the expenditure cap by $2,258. The ECQ identified the breach when the candidate lodged their election funding claim for the election. The ECQ deducted an amount of $4,517 from the candidate’s funding claim entitlement, being double the amount by which they exceeded the cap.

A candidate for the 2020 elections failed to use their dedicated bank account, instead using “cash in a tin” to pay for electoral expenditure. The candidate also did not disclose these transactions until contacted by the ECQ. The candidate was prosecuted, resulting in a fine of $1,200, plus the payment to the ECQ of $1,200 in legal fees.

A third-party campaigner failed to authorise election material published on social media during the 2020 election period. The ECQ contacted the third party and sought an authorisation to be added to the materials. The third-party failed to comply with these requests and was issued a fine for each instance of publication.


1 The ECQ has a limited remit to address issues where a person is engaging in improper practices affecting the election (e.g. obstructing a person from voting).

2 The ECQ has a limited remit to address issues if advertising material is intended or likely to mislead an elector about the ways of voting (including inducing an elector to cast an informal vote), or where a person knowingly publishes a false statement of fact about the personal character or conduct of a candidate, for the purposes of affecting the election of that candidate.