Committee recommends council election spending caps
Mayoral candidates could soon be forced to comply with strict spending caps at local council elections, facing harsh penalties for breaches.
QLD News
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Mayoral and council candidates would be hit with strict spending caps under a proposal to limit how much money they can splash at local government elections.
Candidates would also face tough penalties if they breach the spending caps scheme under the recommendations put forward by a parliamentary committee.
The Local Government Association of Queensland has backed in the spending caps push, saying they want them introduced before the 2024 council elections.
While the committee has not suggested any specific caps, it yesterday recommended that they be scaled according to the number of electors in each local government area or council division.
It would mean those candidates in areas with more voters would be allowed to spend more on their campaigns under the proposed shake-up.
The Local Government Department had previously proposed a mayoral election spending cap of $100,000 for those council areas with more than 200,000 voters.
The LGAQ had instead suggested that the cap be set at $1 for every enrolled voter within the local government area for mayors – or within the division or ward for councillors.
The committee suggested that the expenditure caps fall somewhere within the ranges proposed by both the department and the LGAQ, but called for further analysis and consultation with stakeholders.
LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam said they wanted to work with the State Government to develop a “fair and equitable” spending cap regime.
He said the caps needed to strike the right balance between allowing freedom of political communication and preventing undue influence over the democratic process.
“Our hope is that such a spending cap regime can be finalised and introduced ahead of the next quadrennial local government elections in March 2024,” Mr Hallam said.
New spending caps for state elections were recently introduced, that allow parties to spend $92,000 for every endorsed candidate – or a maximum of $8.55 million if they run in every electorate.
The committee recommended that penalties for a local government spending cap scheme align with those at the state level.
Under the state laws, if an electoral participant knowingly exceeds a relevant cap, they could face a fine of more than $200,000 or up ten years in prison.