Decision on donation
The Electoral Commission has given a warning to the National Party over its failure to declare a donation over $30,000 within 10 working days.
The Party received an aggregated donation $5,000 over the disclosure limit (totalling $35,000). The return should have been filed after the election in November 2020 but was not filed until 31 March 2021.
The Commission has written to the National Party reinforcing the importance of adhering to the statutory timeframes and noted that an additional step is being taken to strengthen donation notification processes within the party.
Since 2011, there have been 11 instances of parties filing a late return for donations over $30,000, including this one. Three were referred to the police and four parties received a warning. In four cases no further action was taken.
In each case the Electoral Commission looks at all the circumstances including the reason for the failure, the amount involved, when it came to light, and the party’s processes for recording donations.
Returns of donations to parties exceeding $30,000 are published on the Electoral Commission website.