Reforms to Victoria’s laws will make election campaigns fairer and give Victorians a clearer understanding of how parties are financed.
Introduced into the Victorian Parliament today, the Electoral Amendment Bill 2025 will further strengthen the state’s strict donation laws, which stop individuals and corporations attempting to buy influence in Victorian politics.
The Bill will make it easier for minor parties to appoint a nominated entity to manage their financial resources, and independent candidates and members will be able to do so for the first time.
The Bill introduces caps on funds transferred from nominated entities to parties and independents, to ensure these funds are used only for administrative purposes like paying for office space – not paying for campaign expenses like advertising.
Transfers will be capped at $500,000 for parties over an election period and $50,000 over an election period for independent candidates.
Other changes to the laws include making sure voters have accurate information about candidates at the point of casting their vote. For example, if a political party drops its support for a candidate or if a grouping of candidates changes, that will be reflected on the ballot paper.
The reforms will also update the electoral laws to give the Victorian Electoral Commission more time to prepare for and run elections including changing the deadlines for registering political parties and nominating candidates, and the timeframes for the close of electoral rolls and sending postal voter ballot packs and postal voter information.
The reforms will also improve the running of an election by setting a default early voting period of 10 days and enabling the number of voting booths to be capped.
This work builds on the Government’s previous work to implement the strictest and most transparent political donation laws in Australia, including banning overseas donations and reducing the disclosure limit to $1,000.