Cook by-election financial disclosure return information published today [30 September 2024]

Cook by-election financial disclosure return information published today

Information from the financial disclosure returns lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) by candidates for the Cook by-election, held on 13 April 2024, is now available for public inspection.

The election disclosure return information is available on the AEC's Transparency Register at https://transparency.aec.gov.au/.

The candidate return information covers donations, electoral expenditure, and discretionary benefits by candidates that contested the Cook by-election. Of the six candidates that contested the
Cook by-election, a total of five have lodged returns. Of these, four candidates lodged nil returns. No donor returns were lodged for the Cook by-election.

Note: Candidates (and Senate groups) that are endorsed by a political party can provide a nil disclosure return and include their reporting in the annual political party return for the 2023-24 financial year, which will be available for public inspection on Monday, 3 February 2025.

What is the Transparency Register?

The Transparency Register is a searchable database of financial disclosure information. It includes 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

Candidates 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 $16,300 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 include their reporting in the annual return for their party if those financial transactions were the responsibility of a party committee. Political party returns for the 2023-24 financial year will be released in February 2025.

Donors

Donors must report donations totalling more than $16,300 made to an individual candidate. Donors must also report donations received by a donor totalling more than $16,300 from a single source that were used in turn to fund donations to an individual candidate.

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