Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

Where a political party is registered under this Part, an application may be made to the Electoral Commission, by:

in the case of a Parliamentary party—either the secretary of the party or all the members of the Commonwealth Parliament who are members of, or the member of that Parliament who is a member of, the party; or

in the case of a political party other than a Parliamentary party—3 members of the party;

changing the name of the party to a name specified in the application; or

if an abbreviation of the name of the party is entered in the Register—changing that abbreviation to an abbreviation specified in the application; or

if an abbreviation of the name of the party is not entered in the Register—entering in the Register an abbreviation of the name of the party, being an abbreviation specified in the application; or

if the party’s logo is entered in the Register—changing that logo to a logo set out in the application; or

if the party’s logo is not entered in the Register—entering in the Register the logo set out in the application; or

entering in, or removing from, the Register a statement that the party wishes to receive moneys under Division 3 of Part XX; or

substituting for the name of the registered officer entered in the Register the name of a person specified in the application.

A person must not be the registered officer or a deputy registered officer of more than one registered political party at a particular time (see subsection 126(2B)).

Where a political party is registered under this Part, the registered officer of the party may apply to the Electoral Commission to change the Register by substituting for the address of the registered officer entered in the Register the address specified in the application.

An application under subsection (1):

shall be in writing, signed by the applicant or applicants;

in the case of an application to substitute the name of a person as the name of the registered officer of a political party, shall be signed by that person and may be signed by the registered officer; and

shall set out the name and address of the applicant or the names and addresses of the applicants and particulars of the capacity in which the applicant or each applicant makes the application; and

for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), (d) or (e)—must be accompanied by a fee of $500.

An application under subsection (1A) shall be signed by the applicant.

Upon receipt of an application under subsection (1) or (1A), the Electoral Commission shall deal with the application in accordance with this Part and determine whether the change requested in the application should be made.

In respect of an application under subsection (1) for a change referred to in paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e), (ea) or (eb), sections 127, 129, 129A, 131 and 132 apply in relation to the application as if:

a reference in those sections to an application for registration were a reference to an application for that change;

subparagraph (2)(b)(i) were omitted from section 132; and

the reference in subparagraph 132(2)(b)(ii) to section 126 (but not the reference to subsection 126(2B)) were a reference to this section.

Where an application under subsection (1) to substitute the name of a person for the name of the registered officer of a political party is not signed by the registered officer, the Electoral Commission shall:

give the registered officer written notice of the application for the change and invite the registered officer, if he or she considers that there are reasons why the change should not be made, to submit written particulars of those reasons to the Commission within 7 days after the date on which the notice was given; and

consider any particulars submitted in response to the invitation referred to in paragraph (a).

Where the Electoral Commission determines that an application under subsection (1) or (1A) should be granted, it shall:

change the Register accordingly;

give the applicant or applicants written notice that it has made the change;

in the case of a change referred to in paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e), (ea), (eb) or (g) in respect of which any person or persons submitted particulars in response to the invitation referred to in paragraph 132(2)(b) in its application by virtue of subsection (4)—give written notice to that person or those persons that it has made the change, setting out in the notice to each person the reasons for rejecting the reasons particulars of which were so submitted by the person;

in the case of an application to substitute the name of a person for the name of the registered officer of the party, being an application in respect of which the registered officer submitted particulars under paragraph (5)(a)—give written notice to that registered officer that it has made the change setting out the reasons for rejecting the reasons particulars of which were so submitted.

If the Register is changed in accordance with paragraph (6)(a), the Electoral Commissioner:

must publish notice of the change on the Electoral Commission’s website; and

may publish notice of the change in any other way the Electoral Commissioner considers appropriate.

Where the Electoral Commission determines that an application under subsection (1) or (1A) should be refused it shall give the applicant or applicants written notice that it has so determined.

The Electoral Commission must:

give an applicant who makes an application under subsection (1) to change the Register in the way referred to in paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e), (ea) or (eb) written notice of the reasons for its decision in relation to the application if it refuses to grant the application; and

take such steps as the Commission considers appropriate to publicise those reasons.