2023 NSW State election: Political participants bulletin No.14
Issued 21 April 2023
On this page
1. Election results
The Electoral Commissioner has declared the result for each Legislative Assembly district and for the Legislative Council. The election results for the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council are available on the NSW Electoral Commission’s website.
2. Return of writs
The Electoral Commissioner has endorsed the names of the elected candidates on the writs for the elections. The Commissioner returned the writs to the Governor of New South Wales today, Friday, 21 April 2023.
3. Disclosure obligations after the election
Political participants must disclose their political donations and electoral expenditure to the NSW Electoral Commission.
Candidate and group disclosure obligations continue until September 2023. These obligations apply even if you were not elected. If elected, you must also submit disclosures for the remainder of your term as an elected member. Failing to disclose when required is an offence and criminal penalties may apply for non-compliance.
Political donation disclosures for the half-yearly period 1 January to 30 June 2023 are due by 11 August 2023.
Electoral expenditure disclosures for the annual period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 are due by 22 September 2023.
Disclosures must be lodged even if no political donations were made or received during the half-yearly period and/or no electoral expenditure was incurred during the annual period.
Register now for the NSW Electoral Commission’s Post-election disclosure webinar on Wednesday, 26 April or visit our website for more information about disclosure obligations.
4. Campaign accounts
If you used a campaign account for the election, there are things you need to do to comply with NSW electoral funding campaign account laws.
The information below applies to you if you used a campaign account, whether or not:
you were elected
you were part of a group of candidates, or
you were endorsed by a political party.
The following information does not apply to a political party’s state campaign account.
If you used a campaign account to deposit political donations and/or pay for electoral expenditure:
ensure payments for electoral expenditure have been made
if there are funds remaining in the campaign account, and you paid your own money into the account, you may reimburse yourself up to the amount you paid into the account
if there are still funds remaining in the account, disperse the funds according to the instructions below, and
obtain bank statements for the account.
Funds remaining in a campaign account must be dispersed as follows:
a candidate or elected member’s campaign account – remaining funds are to be paid to the political party of which you are a member
a group of candidates’ campaign account – remaining funds are to be paid to the campaign accounts of the members of the group, divided equally, or
if the above does not apply, remaining funds are to be paid to your nominated charity.
After the funds have been dispersed from the campaign account and bank statements have been obtained, the account should be closed if no longer required.
More information about campaign accounts.
5. Public funding payments
Political parties and candidates may be eligible to be reimbursed from the Election Campaigns Fund for electoral expenditure incurred in connection with the election. The fund is administered and regulated by the NSW Electoral Commission. To receive a payment from the fund a party or candidate must meet certain criteria and then make a claim for payment.
The NSW Electoral Commission is determining which parties and candidates meet the criteria to be eligible for a payment and we will advise all eligible parties and candidates of how to make a claim for payment. Claims for the 2023 NSW State election must be validly lodged by 4 September 2023.
More information about the Election Campaigns Fund.
6. Candidate information webinars
The final webinar is at 11am Wednesday, 26 April 2023 and will cover post-election disclosure of political donations and electoral expenditure for all election participants, donations and expenditure rules for elected members and parties, and public funding eligibility, including making a claim from the Election Campaigns Fund.
Register your attendance for the webinar.
If you are unable to attend, please note that webinars are recorded and published on the NSW Electoral Commission website.
7. Nomination deposit returns
The nomination deposit is returned following the election if a candidate:
is elected to the Legislative Assembly, or was included in a Legislative Council group in which at least one of the candidates was elected
received at least four per cent of the total number of formal first preferences votes in a Legislative Assembly election, or was included in a Legislative Council group that received at least four percent of the total number of formal first preference votes
dies before election day
withdrew the nomination before 12 noon on nomination day
had their nomination rejected due to it being incomplete at 12 noon on nomination day.
The deposit is returned to:
the registered officer of the party (if the candidate was nominated by a registered political party), or
in any other case, the candidate (or a person authorised by the candidate in writing to receive it).
The processing of nomination deposit returns will be conducted in June. Should you have any questions regarding the return of a nomination deposit please contact the Candidate Helpdesk on 1300 022 011 or email candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au.
8. 2023 NSW State election participant survey
Candidates, political party officers, elected members, and third-party campaigners recently will have received an invitation to complete a post-election participant survey about the 2023 NSW State election, being conducted by an independent research provider (Fiftyfive5 Pty Ltd) engaged by the NSW Electoral Commission.
The purpose of the survey is to understand and measure the views and experiences of election participants and to evaluate NSW Electoral Commission services at the election.
We encourage you to provide your feedback through the survey. Your responses are anonymous and will provide valuable insight into the experiences and satisfaction of election participants. Feedback will help us to improve our services and delivery of future elections.
If you would like further information about the survey, please contact us at stakeholderengagement@elections.nsw.gov.au.