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Australian Electoral Commission
File reference: Reg2958, 08/454
The delegate of the Australian Electoral Commission determined that the application by the Queensland Greens to be registered as a political party under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 should be accepted and the Party entered in the Register of Political Parties.
On 10 April 2007, the Australian Electoral Commission (the AEC) received an application from the Queensland Greens (the Party) for registration as a political party under the provisions of Part XI of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act).
The AEC conducted a series of tests usually undertaken as part of the initial consideration of an application for registration as a political party and on 21 June 2007, the delegate of the AEC issued a notice to the Party under s.131 of the Electoral Act noting the following two shortcomings in the application:
requiring a written response, signed by the applicants to the Party's application, requesting that the AEC vary the application to include those details, or proceed with the application for registration in its current form.
On 15 September 2007, the proposed Registered Officer of the Party provided evidence to the AEC that satisfied the provisions of sections 4 and 123 of the Electoral Act.
On 22 October 2008, the AEC received a written response from the Party, signed by 8 of the 10 applicants to the Party's initial application, requesting that the AEC proceed with the application as varied.
The Party's application was advertised in a Commonwealth Special Gazette on Monday 24 September 2007 and in 10 newspapers circulating in the various states and territories on Tuesday 25 September 2007. No objections were received.
The legal provisions specifically relevant for the current application under consideration are sections 4, 123, 124, 126, 129, 132, 132A and 133 of the Electoral Act. An extract of the relevant provisions is on the AEC website.
The reader should consult this extract at the link above to understand the legal provisions being applied in the tests below.
The Party meets the provisions set out in section 4 of the Electoral Act in that it is an organisation based on a constitution that has an objective of promoting the election to Federal Parliament of candidates endorsed by the Party. The Party has been recognised by the AEC as a political party since 1992.
The Party met this test.
The application conforms to the requirements in section 126 of the Electoral Act, in that it satisfies each of the elements set out in that section, excepting the requirement to lodge an application fee of $500.
The applicant Party was de-registered on 27 December 2006 as a result of the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 (the 2006 Amendment Act). Item 4 in Schedule 3 of the 2006 Amendment Act provides for the waiver of the normal application fee where a party, deregistered by force of Schedule 3, makes application to re-register within 12 months of the commencement of Schedule 3 of the 2006 Amendment Act on 22 June 2006.
The application passes this test.
The Party's application was signed by the secretary and its constitution defines the role of the secretary in good detail in Chapter 3, Clause 19. The secretary also provided a sworn copy of the minutes of the 2006 annual general meeting that detailed the election of the secretary and other officer bearers.
The party passed the test of having a secretary as defined in the Electoral Act.
To test that a party has 500 members who are entitled to enrolment, the AEC:
The test for fraudulent membership involves contacting a random sample of 20 people from the membership list by phone, and by mail if necessary. A check against all available membership lists was conducted and, in the 667 members provided by the Party, no duplicates were found. A random sample check of 20 members was completed in June 2007, in which 20 out of 20 members confirmed their membership.
The Party passed the membership test.
The Party's constitution as at 6 October 2007 contains the following matters relevant to registration:
The Party passes this test.
| REGISTER | REGISTERED NAME | REGISTERED ABBREVIATION |
|---|---|---|
| Federal (AEC) | Australian Greens The Australian Greens – Victoria The Greens (WA) Inc The Greens NSW |
The Greens Australian Greens The Greens (WA) The Greens |
| NSW | The Greens | no abbreviation |
| Vic | The Australian Greens – Victoria | not shown on VEC website |
| Qld | Queensland Greens | The Greens |
| WA | The Greens (WA) Inc | Greens (WA) |
| SA | Australian Greens | Australian Greens |
| Tas | Tasmanian Greens | not shown on TEC website |
| ACT | The ACT Greens | The Greens |
| NT | The Greens | not shown on NTEC website |
The website and constitution of the Australian Greens (the national Greens' body) proclaims that the Australian Greens is a national confederation of eight state and territory Greens' parties (as listed above). The Queensland Greens proclaims in its website and constitution that it is a member body of the Australian Greens, the national confederation of State and Territory Green parties. The Party is, therefore, not prevented by s.129 of the Electoral Act from using the name Queensland Greens.
The Party passed the names test.
No written submissions were received objecting to the Party's application for registration.
The Queensland Greens is eligible for registration and has now been registered.
Tim Pickering
A/g Deputy Electoral Commissioner
Delegate of the Australian Electoral Commission
27 November 2008
The AEC acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.