2022 federal election financial disclosure returns published today

Financial disclosure returns for the 2022 federal election, held on 21 May 2022, are now available for public inspection.

This includes returns from:

• Candidates
• Senate groups
• Election donors.

The returns are available on the AEC’s Transparency Register at https://transparency.aec.gov.au/.

The returns cover donations, electoral expenditure, and discretionary benefits by candidates and unendorsed (or jointly endorsed) Senate groups that contested the 2022 federal election. Of the 1,624 candidates who contested the federal election, a total of 1,590 have lodged returns. Of these, 1,001 candidates lodged nil returns.

In addition, 14 Senate group returns were lodged, seven of which were nil returns.

A further 65 donor returns were also lodged.

Note: Candidates and Senate groups that are endorsed by a political party are able to provide a nil disclosure and roll their reporting into the political party return for the 2021-22 financial year, which will be available for public inspection on Wednesday, 1 February 2023.

What is the Transparency Register?

The Transparency Register is a searchable database of financial disclosure information. It includes images of the original returns and a data-export function to enable users to undertake additional analysis of the data outside of the Transparency Register.

Any questions on the navigation of the Transparency Register should be directed to the AEC’s Funding and Disclosure helpdesk on 02 6271 4552.

Editor’s notes

Financial disclosure requirements

Candidates and unendorsed Senate groups

Candidates and unendorsed (or jointly endorsed) Senate groups are required to disclose the total sum of donations received and used to fund their campaign, along with the number of donors and details of donations received where those donations total more than $14,500 from a single source. Details of electoral expenditure and discretionary benefits are also required.

Candidates endorsed by a registered political party may submit a ‘nil return’ and roll their reporting into the annual return for their party if those financial transactions were the responsibility of a party committee. Political party returns for the 2021-22 financial year will be released in February 2023.

Senate groups endorsed by a single political party are not required to lodge a Senate group return. Their reporting is rolled into the annual return for their party. Political party returns for the 2021-22 financial year will be released in February 2023.

Donors

Donors must report donations totalling more than $14,500 made to an individual candidate or member of a Senate group. Donors must also report donations received by a donor totalling more than $14,500 from a single source that were used in turn to fund donations to an individual candidate or member of a Senate group.

Further information on the financial disclosure scheme can be found on the AEC website.