Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

The Electoral Commission must, within 20 days of the Electoral Commission receiving a claim:

decide whether to accept or refuse the claim, in whole or in part; and

to the extent that the Electoral Commission accepts the claim—pay the amount required by section 298D or 298E.

In deciding whether to accept or refuse a claim, in whole or in part, the Electoral Commission must only consider:

whether expenditure claimed is electoral expenditure; and

if expenditure claimed is electoral expenditure—both:

whether the electoral expenditure was incurred; and

whether the electoral expenditure has been specified in a claim made by another agent.

If an interim claim is accepted, in whole or in part, and a final claim is not lodged:

no further election funding is payable; and

the interim claim is taken to be a final claim accepted, in whole or in part, by the Electoral Commission for the purposes of subsection 301(1); and

if the interim claim is accepted only in part—the interim claim is taken to be a final claim refused in part by the Electoral Commission for the purposes of sections 298F, 298G and 298H.

If:

an interim claim is refused; and

a final claim is not lodged;

To avoid doubt, subsection (3) does not require the Electoral Commission to determine the amount of election funding that is payable based on formal first preference votes counted as at the day the interim claim is taken to be a final claim.