Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

It is unlawful for any of the following:

a political party or a State branch of a political party;

a person acting on behalf of a political party or a State branch of a political party;

a significant third party, or a person acting on behalf of a significant third party;

It is unlawful for a candidate or a member of a group or a person acting on behalf of a candidate or group to receive a loan of more than the disclosure threshold from a person or entity other than a financial institution unless the loan is made in accordance with subsection (3).

The receiver of the loan must keep a record of the following:

the terms and conditions of the loan (including, without limitation, the total amount of the loan, the term of the loan, and the rate at which any interest is payable on the loan);

the following information in relation to the loan (as the case requires):

for a loan from a registered industrial organisation other than a financial institution—the name of the organisation, and the names and addresses of the members of the executive committee (however described) of the organisation;

for a loan from an unincorporated association—the name of the association, and the names and addresses of the members of the executive committee (however described) of the association;

for a loan paid out of a trust fund or out of the funds of a foundation—the names and addresses of the trustees of the fund or foundation, and the title, name or other description of the trust fund or foundation;

for any other loan—the name and address of the person or organisation that made the loan.

Where a person receives a loan that, by virtue of this section, it is unlawful for the person to receive, an amount equal to the amount or value of the loan is payable by that person to the Commonwealth and may be recovered by the Commonwealth as a debt due to the Commonwealth by action, in a court of competent jurisdiction, against:

in the case of a loan to or for the benefit of a political party, a State branch of a political party, or a significant third party, (the loan recipient):

if the loan recipient is a body corporate—the loan recipient; or

otherwise—the agent or financial controller of the loan recipient; or

in any other case—the candidate or a member of the group or the agent of the candidate or of the group, as the case may be.

For the purposes of this section, if credit is provided on a credit card in respect of card transactions, the credit is to be treated as a separate loan for each transaction.

In this section:

a bank; or

a credit union; or

a building society; or

any other entity registered under the Australian Financial Institutions Commission Codes as a special service provider; or

See section 111AZB of the Corporations Act 2001 for the Australian Financial Institutions Commission Codes.

an entity prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.