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Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie wolf On mixed one oh four

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Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin Well.

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Speaker 2: A report into financial disclosures and compliance of registered political

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Speaker 2: parties including their associated entities, third party campaigners and candidates

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Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty territory election has been released by

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Electoral Commission and the Northern Territories Electoral

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Speaker 2: Commissioner joins me on the line right now, Ian Logan, Aisan,

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Speaker 2: good morning.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 2: Ian, tell us a little bit more about what the

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Speaker 2: report looked into, Katie.

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Speaker 1: What the report looked into was at the election last year,

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Speaker 1: we had significant changes to political donations. For the first

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Speaker 1: time in territory elections, there was a cap on donations,

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Speaker 1: so there was a cap on expenditure, so that meant

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Speaker 1: you could spend forty thousand per seat, so if a

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Speaker 1: party ran in all twenty five seats, they could spend

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Speaker 1: a million dollars in total. In addition, there was additional

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Speaker 1: requirements in regard to disclosure. Rather than just disclosing at

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Speaker 1: the end of the election, they had to provide quarterly

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Speaker 1: reports and the lead up to the election, plus additional

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Speaker 1: reports during the election period. There was also the registration

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Speaker 1: of the party campaigners. So there was a lot of changes.

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Speaker 1: They were the major ones. And the purpose of this

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Speaker 1: compliance review, which is conducted by the accounting firm BDO,

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Speaker 1: was to ensure that all you know, PARTICI political participants

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Speaker 1: complied with the relevant.

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Speaker 2: Law and overall, did the review find that most did

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Speaker 2: the right thing? Look?

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Speaker 1: Yes, it did. It said, Look there was generally there

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Speaker 1: was compliance with the with the new requirements, and most

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Speaker 1: people did the right thing. You know, there were a

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Speaker 1: few people who have failed to comply, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we're certainly chasing them up, chasing them up, and you know,

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Speaker 1: as soon as report was released, some people have provided

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Speaker 1: us information and that's been updated on our website and in.

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Speaker 2: What ways did they not comply?

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Speaker 1: So some people haven't provided information to BDO. So if

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Speaker 1: I can explain this a little more, is that people

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Speaker 1: provide us a return and we just put that up

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Speaker 1: on the website. So they say they might have donated,

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Speaker 1: you know, they might have spent nine thousand dollars. What

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Speaker 1: the point of the review is that they need to

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Speaker 1: provide relevant information to show they only spent nine thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars and they didn't spend any more, and this information

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Speaker 1: is requested and it's verified, and it's checked against their

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Speaker 1: own accounting system as well as their bank records. Look,

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Speaker 1: a ninety eight percent of people provided information. A couple didn't,

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Speaker 1: and certainly we're going to be chasing those up and

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Speaker 1: request the required information.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, what is sort of

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Speaker 2: the punishment or what's the consequence if you won't follow

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Speaker 2: all the rules.

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Speaker 1: Look, there are penalty provisions under the Act. You know,

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Speaker 1: if you try to circumvent the expenditure cap, the maximum

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Speaker 1: jail penalties ten years. And if you try to contravene

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Speaker 1: the expenditure cap for a party the maximum final is

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Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty two thousand, So they are significant penalties.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing in this report that would indicate that, you know,

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Speaker 1: anyone's done anything sort of untoward. Some people just haven't

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Speaker 1: provided information, but you know, they're not the big parties,

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Speaker 1: or they're not the big donors or anything like that.

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Speaker 1: It's certainly for smaller amounts. But you know, we've got

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Speaker 1: an obligation to check this up and make sure that

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Speaker 1: all people can fly.

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Speaker 2: And I understand that there had been some confusion from

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Speaker 2: some some of the local members or some of those

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Speaker 2: who are obviously running at the last election around electoral

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Speaker 2: allowances and whether they are able to use some of those,

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Speaker 2: you know, some of that money on different things in

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Speaker 2: the lead into an election.

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Speaker 1: Look, Katie, like I said, this is the first election

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Speaker 1: where we've had an expenditure cap. Electorate allowances are exactly that,

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Speaker 1: they're electoral allowances. They're not to be used for political

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Speaker 1: or electioneering purposes. You know, we certainly did get a

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Speaker 1: number of complaints during the election, but what the report

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Speaker 1: has raised is that there needs to be educate better

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Speaker 1: education in two members in relation to what electoral allowances

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Speaker 1: can be used for and that they can't be used

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Speaker 1: for electioneering purposes. And you know, this is particularly the

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Speaker 1: case during an election because the whole point of having

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Speaker 1: these expenditure caps is to create a level playing field.

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Speaker 1: So it is inequitable if setting members have access to

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Speaker 1: other sources of funds that are outside the cap to

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Speaker 1: aid their campaigns.

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Speaker 2: So, in following on from this report, are there any

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Speaker 2: sort of areas there you know, of concern for you

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Speaker 2: or areas that we need to sort of follow up

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Speaker 2: on and potentially look at changes.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think they're certainly going to there's going to

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Speaker 1: be significant reform to this area, or proposed reform, I

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Speaker 1: should say from the Electoral Commission. We're writing our report

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Speaker 1: now in regard to the election. This is the first time,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've had such complicated sort of compliance regimes.

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Speaker 1: It was doubly complicated because nobody contemplated that we would

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Speaker 1: have a by election, a legislative legislative Assembly by election,

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Speaker 1: in the same year as an election. So you know,

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Speaker 1: there were returns for that, there were returns for the elections.

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Speaker 1: Everything had to be done, they were sort of over

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Speaker 1: the same period. So you know, we think that there

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Speaker 1: could be a streamline to make it easier for the

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Speaker 1: participants and make it easier for the Electoral Commission while

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Speaker 1: still having people comply. I think the big outstanding issue

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Speaker 1: that was raised in the report is the fact that

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Speaker 1: there's no cap for third party campaigners. So you know

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Speaker 1: that could you know, that could mean that, you know,

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Speaker 1: you could run as a candidate and you could have

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Speaker 1: some third parties spending money promoting your campaign and they're

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Speaker 1: not subject to a cap, you know, and that sort

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Speaker 1: of just undermines that whole process. So we were pretty

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Speaker 1: we put forward that there should be a cap initially,

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Speaker 1: but the decision was that we would run the election

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Speaker 1: and then to determine what an appropriate cap would be.

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Speaker 1: And we certainly think there should be a cap for

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Speaker 1: third parties and that will definitely be a recommendation in

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Speaker 1: the election report.

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Speaker 2: Now, when it comes to the election report and those recommendations,

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Speaker 2: what's then the process? Does that need to go through

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Speaker 2: the Parliament or you know, how do you get those

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Speaker 2: changes sort of into place that are required.

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Speaker 1: So what happened last time is that the report gets

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Speaker 1: table in Parliament and then it went to one of

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Speaker 1: those scrutiny committees and there was a process terms of

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Speaker 1: looking at the recommendations and seeking submissions. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: we would have to work out in terms of what

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Speaker 1: the process is going to be. But certainly there will

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Speaker 1: be some level of review into the Electoral Act which

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Speaker 1: would look at, you know, the recommendations made by the

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Speaker 1: electoral Commissions, but it also should look at recommendations or

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Speaker 1: suggestions by other participants, you know, whether it be parties, campaigners,

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Speaker 1: you know, just donors, other people who are involved in

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Speaker 1: the political process and can the steer views and then

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Speaker 1: ultimately there will be suggested amendments to the Act which

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Speaker 1: will go to Parliament for their consideration.

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Speaker 2: So by the sounds of things, any changes that do

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Speaker 2: come into play, they be a little way off. But

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Speaker 2: is it your hope that you know, if we are

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Speaker 2: to see some change in this space that it is

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Speaker 2: before the next election, look.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, that would definitely be the Well, there would be

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Speaker 1: the purpose of it. We're trying to make democracy better

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Speaker 1: and you do that by refining it after every election

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Speaker 1: and looking at what issues are and looking at what

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Speaker 1: can be changed and what can be improved. These provisions

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Speaker 1: have been a giant leap forward for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: They've been in other jurisdictions for a long period of

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Speaker 1: time and to a degree we've caught up with them,

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Speaker 1: but we need to keep up with them and they're

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Speaker 1: refining them and we will be going through that process

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Speaker 1: as well. And to make democracy stronger and to make

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Speaker 1: democracy fairer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and I think it needs to be. Electoral

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Speaker 2: Commissioner Ian Logan, Nathan, it's always good to catch up

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Speaker 2: with you. We appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Katie, thank you