I would like to extend my best wishes to all for the festive season. May it be a safe and joyous occasion for everyone.
I would like to apologise for the gap in newsletters. We have been doing some routine maintenance upgrades to the website.
I have been asked quite a lot about the new electoral funding reforms and what they mean for constituents' so I hope to give a brief overview in this blog. I have also highlighted the link to my second reading speech on the legislation to provide some more detailed information.
The new act will come into effect as of 1 January 2011 meaning it will be used during the March 2011 election. The three main areas that the new election funding and disclosure system will affect are;
1. Donation Cap - The new system imposes a cap on the value of political donations that can be received. It will be unlawful for an elected member or candidate to accept political donations totalling more than $2,000 in a financial year from a donor. Contributions made by elected members or candidates to their own campaign will not be subject to the donation cap.
2. Expenditure Cap – The new system imposes a non-transferrable cap on the amount of electoral expenditure that can be incurred during a capped electoral period. The capped electoral period for the 2011 State Election will be from 1 January 2011 to 26 March 2011. For Candidates endorsed by a party, it will be unlawful to incur electoral expenditure of more than $100,000 during the capped expenditure period. The expenditure cap will not apply to volunteer labour.
3. Elections Campaign Funds – Candidates contesting a Legislative Assembly seat who receive at least 4% of first preference votes will be eligible for reimbursement of electoral expenditure they incur. Eligible candidates endorsed by a political party receive:
- 100% reimbursement for their first $10,000 of expenditure; and
- 50% reimbursement of their expenditure from $10,000 to $50,000. (e.g. If a candidate incurs $20,000 of electoral expenditure they will be reimbursed $15,000)
The legislation is available for viewing at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au. More detailed information is available at the NSW Electoral Funding Authority website, www.efa.nsww.gov.au

The Parliamentary Budget Office Act 2010 is another piece of legislation recently introduced to make the electoral process more transparent. The Parliamentary Budget Office is to be set up immediately and will have the responsibility of officially costing all election promises in the lead-up to the next State election in March, 2011. The office will run as a branch of the NSW Parliament and will be independent of the government of the day. All electoral promises will be costed internally by the new office using its new resources of expert economists, accountants and analysts. The Parliamentary Budget Office will have the power to engage with all NSW Government agencies as it analyses election promises, with a legislated right of access to relevant information. The Parliamentary Budget Office will also have the power to seek external advice, from specialist accounting firms. All parliamentarians will have the ability to use the Parliamentary Budget Office as a resource for economic policy advice and research, and the costing of Bills introduced to Parliament.

Finally I would like to mention the sad passing of a Country Labor stalwart –Kath Knowles. Kath passed away on the 19 November after a battle with cancer. Kath served as Mayor of Bathurst and was a very valuable Labor Party activist. Kath was respected across all sides of politics and across all tiers of government. The tributes in the Legislative Council made by the Hon. Tony Kelly and the Hon. Duncan Gay were very moving. Follow this link to read the tribute given to Kath in the Legislative Council.

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