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Australian Electoral Commission
File reference: Reg3628
The delegate of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) determined that 4Change should be deregistered under section 137(4) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) for failing to respond to a Notice of Intention to Deregister.
Section 138A(1) of the Electoral Act confers upon the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) the power to review the eligibility of registered political parties to remain on the federal Register. Section 138A(3) provides that the AEC may conduct such a review by giving written notice to the registered officer of a political party requesting specified information on the party's eligibility to remain registered under Part XI of the Electoral Act. Section 138A(4) of the Electoral Act provides that the information specified in the notice must be provided within the time stated in the notice.
The legal provisions relevant for the deregistration are section 138A and section 137. An extract of the relevant provisions is on the AEC's website at:
The reader should consult this extract at the link above to see a copy of the legal provisions discussed below.
The Funding and Disclosure Section commenced a review of the eligibility of non-Parliamentary parties to remain on the Register under the provisions of s138A of the Electoral Act on 19 August 2009. 4Change was issued with a Notice of Review under s138A(3) of the Electoral Act on 2 October 2009 and a response to the Notice was received by the AEC on 14 December 2009. The AEC noted that 19 of the 603 membership forms submitted were printouts of emails providing details for membership, which did not appear to originate from the member and did not include a member signature. The email printout had been annexed, signed and witnessed by the party itself. None of these forms belonged to individuals whose details came up through the AEC's random sampling process of the party membership list.
On 12 February 2010, 4Change was issued with a Notice of Intention to Deregister for returning insufficient results following the application of the AEC's membership testing processes. The party was given one month within which to 'show cause' as to why it should not be deregistered. The due date for a response from the party was 15 March 2010. No response has been received from the party to date.
Section 137(4) provides that where a party is issued with a Notice of Intention to Deregister under section 137(1)(d) and no response is received, the AEC shall deregister the party.
4Change did not respond to the Notice of Intention to Deregister issued to it under section 137(1)(b) and section 137(1)(d) of the Electoral Act for failing to demonstrate it contains the requisite 500 members to remain on the Federal Register of Political Parties. Accordingly, 4Change has been deregistered under section 137(4) and removed from the Federal Register of Political Parties.
Sue Sayer
Director Funding and Disclosure
Delegate of the Australian Electoral Commission
25 March 2010
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