Incurring electoral expenditure
Incurring electoral expenditure and expenditure caps
The term electoral expenditure has a specific meaning for local government elections – it's incurred for a campaign purpose and can include the cost of expenses like:
- opinion polling or research
- advertisements broadcast at a cinema, on radio or television, or on the internet
- billboards and signs.
This is not an exhaustive list. All third parties and their agents should read the ECQ’s fact sheets and handbooks for more detailed information about what is and is not electoral expenditure, as not all campaign expenses will be considered electoral expenditure.
Expenditure caps apply for local government elections. The ECQ calculates and publishes the caps for each election based on electoral roll data. The ECQ publishes relevant electoral expenditure cap information for each election on its website.
The expenditure cap for registered third parties applies and is calculated separately for each local government area. The expenditure cap for one local government area cannot be aggregated with the cap of another.
For unregistered third parties, the expenditure cap amount is $6,000. This cap does not apply separately for each local government area, it is the total cap for the entire election. If this cap is reached, the unregistered third party must register and registered third party caps will then apply.
Each local government election has a capped expenditure period. During this period, a third party may only incur electoral expenses up to their capped amount. The capped expenditure period for an election will be published in the notice of expenditure caps for the election.
Video overviews
- Incurring electoral expenditure
- When is electoral expenditure incurred?
- Electoral expenditure caps for third parties (including donors)
Links to further information: