Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Electoral Commissioner may give a person or entity (the relevant person ) a written notice if:
(a) the relevant person, whether alone or together with one or more other persons or entities, enters into, begins to carry out or carries out a scheme; and
(b) there are reasonable grounds to conclude that the relevant person did so for the sole or dominant purpose of avoiding section 314AJ prohibiting:
(i) an amount of electoral expenditure being incurred by or with the authority of a person (whether or not the relevant person) in a financial year; or
(ii) the fundraising of an amount for the purposes of electoral expenditure being incurred by or with the authority of a person (whether or not the relevant person) in a financial year; and
(c) there are reasonable grounds to conclude that, as a result of the scheme or part of the scheme, section 314AJ will not prohibit the incurring of the amount of electoral expenditure or the fundraising of the amount in the financial year.
Note: A decision to give a notice is a reviewable decision (see section 120).
(2) The notice must:
(a) specify the conduct constituting the scheme; and
(b) require the relevant person:
(i) not to enter into the scheme; or
(ii) not to begin to carry out the scheme; or
(iii) not to continue to carry out the scheme.
Civil penalty
(3) A person or entity is liable to a civil penalty if:
(a) the person or entity is given a notice under subsection (1); and
(b) the person or entity engages in conduct; and
(c) the conduct contravenes the notice.
Civil penalty:
The higher of the following amounts:
(a) 200 penalty units;
(b) if there is sufficient evidence for the court to determine or estimate the amount that was not prohibited as a result of the scheme or part of the scheme--3 times that amount.
(4) This section applies whether or not the scheme is entered into, begun to be carried out or carried out:
(a) in Australia; or
(b) outside Australia; or
(c) partly in Australia and partly outside Australia.
Meaning of scheme
(5) For the purposes of this section, scheme has the same meaning as in subsection 287(1).