It is unlawful for a prohibited donor to make a political donation.
It is unlawful for a person to make a political donation on behalf of a prohibited donor.
It is unlawful for a person to accept a political donation that was made (wholly or partly) by a prohibited donor or by a person on behalf of a prohibited donor.
It is unlawful for a person to solicit another person on behalf of a prohibited donor to make a political donation.
A person who is a prohibited donor and who makes a payment to a party for a membership of the party or for affiliation with the party is permitted to pay less than $1,000 per financial year to the party for these purposes.
Any amounts paid to a party by a person for these purposes in a financial year that are $1,000 or more are prohibited.
Property developers, tobacco industry business entities and liquor or gambling industry business entities are prohibited donors.
A “property developer” is a corporation engaged in a business (or a person who is a “close associate” of such a corporation) that regularly involves the making of “relevant planning applications” by or on behalf of the corporation in connection with the residential or commercial development of land with the ultimate purpose of the sale or lease of the land for profit.
A “close associate” of a corporation (as mentioned above) includes:
• Directors and officers of the corporation and their spouses
• Related body corporate
• A person (or the spouse of such a person) whose voting power in the corporation or related body corporate is greater than 20%
• stapled entities
• If the corporation is a trustee, manager or responsible entity in relation to:
• A unit trust – persons who hold more than 20% of the units
• A discretionary trust – persons who are beneficiaries of the trust
The Government has indicated that the definition of property developer is intended to capture all companies in the business of professional property development (and their close associates). This includes companies new to the business of property development that may not have made any planning applications and shelf companies established to lodge planning applications in relation to a particular development.
The term “relevant planning application” has the same meaning as in section 147 (Disclosure of political donations and gifts) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and includes:
• Development applications or proposals.
• Requests regarding environmental planning instruments or development control plans.
A “tobacco industry business entity” is a corporation engaged in a business (or a person who is a “close associate” of such a corporation) mainly concerned with the manufacture or sale of tobacco products.
A “close associate” of a corporation is explained above.
A “liquor or gambling industry business entity” is a corporation engaged in a business (or a person who is a “close associate” of such a corporation) mainly concerned with the manufacture and sale of alcohol products or wagering, betting or other gambling (including manufacture of machines used primarily for gambling) for the ultimate purpose of making a profit.
A person (the applicant) may apply to the Election Funding Authority for a determination that the applicant or another person is not a prohibited donor. The Election Funding Authority is authorised to make a determination if satisfied that it is more likely than not that the person is not a prohibited donor. The Election Funding Authority is to make its determination solely on the basis of information provided by the applicant.
The Authority is to maintain a public register of any determinations and the register is to be published on the Authority’s website.