Incurring electoral expenditure

The term electoral expenditure has a specific meaning for state elections – it's incurred for a campaign purpose and can include the cost of expenses like:

billboards and signs
advertisements broadcast on radio or television, at a cinema, or on the internet
opinion polling or research.

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.

Registered third parties must ensure that all electoral expenditure is paid from their state campaign account. All electoral expenditure must also be recorded and disclosed in an election summary return within 15 weeks after the election. This includes all electoral expenditure whether it was incurred during a capped expenditure period or not.

There are caps on the amount of electoral expenditure that can be incurred during the capped expenditure period (refer to the Electoral expenditure caps tab).