Special assistance funding is a form of public funding under Division 5 of the Electoral Act 1985

It is available to be paid as a half yearly entitlement to eligible registered political parties who claim reimbursement of administrative expenditure.

Registered political parties must meet the following eligibility criteria to receive special assistance funding:

  • At least 1 member of the party must have been a member of the Parliament of South Australia for all or part of the half-yearly period; and
  • The party must have been a registered political party on polling day for the last preceding general election and continued to be registered for all of the half-yearly period; and
  • The agent of the party submitted a valid claim to the Electoral Commissioner setting out the administrative expenditure incurred by the party during that half-yearly period.

Special assistance funding claims under Division 5 are limited to the following maximum amounts:

  • For a party with 5 or fewer members of Parliament - $35,000 (indexed)
  • For a party with 6 or more members of Parliament - $60,000 (indexed)

Since Part 13A came into effect, the Electoral Commissioner has paid the amounts shown in the table below for special assistance funding claims.

  Australian Labor Party Liberal Party The Greens SA Best Advance SA* Dignity Party** Family First^ Australian Conservatives^^ Pauline Hanson's One Nation
Date $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
1/01/24 - 30/06/24 75,586.00 75,586.00 44,092.00 37,773.10 - - - - 17,748.43
1/01/23 - 30/06/23 70,048.00 70,048.00 40,862.00 36,601.34 - - - - 20,045.00
1/07/22 - 31/12/22 70,048.00 70,048.00 40,862.00 35,993.43 - - - - 11,122.39
1/01/22 - 30/06/22 66,908.00 66,908.00 39,030.00 27,901.55 - - - - -
1/07/21 - 31/12/21 66,908.00 66,908.00 39,030.00 39,030.00 - - - - -
1/01/21 - 30/06/21 66,109.00 66,109.00 38,564.00 38,564.00 - - - - -
1/07/20 - 31/12/20 66,109.00 66,109.00 38,564.00 29,071.53 - - - - -
1/01/20 - 30/06/20 64,568.00 64,568.00 37,665.00 37,665.00 - - - - -
1/07/19 - 31/12/19 64,568.00 64,568.00 37,665.00 37,665.00 952.04 - -; - -
1/01/19 - 30/06/19 63,711.00 63,711.00 37,165.00 37,165.00 219.24 - - - -
1/07/18 - 31/12/18 63,711.00 63,711.00 37,165.00 37,165.00 - - - - -
1/01/18 - 30/06/18 62,283.00 62,283.00 36.333.00 - - - - 36,333.00 -
1/07/17 - 31/12/17 62,283.00 62,283.00 36,333.00 - - 36,333.00 - - -
1/01/17 - 30/06/17 60,000.00 60,000.00 35,000.00 - - 29,672.00 - - -
1/07/16 - 31/12/16 12,217.00 12,217.00 7,127.00 - - 7,127.00 6,218.39 - -
1/01/16 - 30/06/16 12,217.00 12,217.00 7,127.00 - - 7,127.00 4,403.19 - -
1/07/15 - 31/12/15 12,137.00 12,137.00 7,080.00 - - 7,080.00 825.00 - -
Total 1,034,997.00 1,034,997.00 603,756.00 431,177.56 1,171.28 87,339.00 11,446.58 36,333.00 64,303.41
Special assistance paid to date: $3,305,520.83
* deregistered 25 August 2022
** deregistered 28 November 2019
^ deregistered 27 June 2017 (n.b. a new party called Family First Party Inc. was registered on 13 January 2022)
^^ deregistered 27 June 2019

 

One-off special assistance funding

Section 130UA was inserted into the Electoral Act 1985 on 9 June 2017 and expired on 31 August 2017. This section permitted eligible registered political parties to claim a one-off payment of special assistance funding for prescribed administrative expenditure for the purpose of complying with Part 13A of the Act.

Eligible registered political parties who wished to make a claim were required to submit a claim in writing to the Electoral Commissioner by 31 July 2017.  This section limited the claim to the following maximum amounts:

  • For parties with 5 or fewer members of Parliament - $56,000
  • For parties with 6 or more members of Parliament - $96,000

The Electoral Commissioner paid the amounts shown in the table below for one-off special assistance payment in 2017. These payments were in addition to any entitlements to half yearly payments of special assistance funding paid under Division 5 of the Act.

Party Claim
Australian Labor Party $96,000.00
Liberal Party $96,000.00
The Greens $10,013.79
Dignity Party $43,861.44
Total $245,875.23