Funding for independent candidates

Victoria's Electoral Act 2002 provides public funding for eligible independent candidates.

What is public funding?

Public funding is public money we provide to eligible independent candidates and political parties. An independent candidate is one who is not a member of any registered political party.

The amount you can receive is based on the number of first preference votes you receive.

We publish the details of funding amounts paid to individual recipients since 2018. This information is updated on a quarterly basis in the Funding register.

Eligibility

You are eligible if you received at least 4% of first preference votes or were elected in a state election.

You must submit a statement of expenditure from the previous election to receive this funding.

A statement of expenditure is a report that shows the costs you incurred during your election campaign. This statement must be accompanied by an audit certificate from an independent auditor.

Download a statement of expenditure form.

The audit certificate must state that the auditor:

was given full and free access at all reasonable times to all accounts, records, documents and papers relating directly or indirectly to any matter required to be specified in the statement
examined the material referred to above for the purpose of giving the certificate
received all information and explanations that the auditor requested in respect of any matter required to be specified in the statement
has no reason to believe that any matter stated in the statement is not correct.

The independent auditor can use this audit certificate template (PDF).

If you received public funding last election you can apply to receive advance funding for the next state election.

You or your agent must complete the Public funding application form and return it and your audited statement of expenditure by email (to disclosures@vec.vic.gov.au) or by post (to Level 11, 530 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000) within 20 weeks of the immediately preceding election day. You will not receive this funding if you do not provide your audited statement of expenditure.

The penalty for giving false or misleading information is up to 300 penalty units or two years' prison time.

Funding amounts

The amount you can receive is based on:

your audited statement of expenditure for the previous election
the number of votes you received
the maximum legislated amounts.

You can also choose to receive advance public funding for the 2022 state election. The amount you can receive in advance is based on:

the number of first preference votes you received at the previous state election
which house you stood for (Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council).

All our funding amounts are indexed annually according to the consumer price index (CPI). For current amounts, see indexation.

The amount of advanced funding you can receive is calculated based on the number of votes you received at the previous state election and the amounts payable for the next election.

After the 2022 State election we will use the number of votes you actually received to calculate what the funding amount should have been.

If your audited statement of expenditure for the 2022 State election shows you spent less than you were paid in public funding we will either deduct the difference from your next funding payment. We can also send you an invoice for the difference if you prefer.

If we find that you were entitled to more than the funding you received in advance, and that you spent more than you received in your statement of expenditure, we will pay you the difference.

For more information see What if I was overpaid?

How and when will I receive payments?

We pay within 30 days of receiving your audited statement of expenditure from the previous election.

We pay in advance in 4 instalments:

40% within 30 days of receiving your audited statement of expenditure
20% instalments every April for the next 3 years. The last payment will be the April before the next state election (in 2026).

We can pay you directly, or pay your appointed agent. Your public funding must be paid into your state campaign account.

What if I was overpaid?

If we paid you more than you were entitled to we can ask for the excess to be repaid. We can either reduce your next upcoming funding payment, or issue you with an invoice.

There can be a few reasons that mean your advanced payments were too high:

you did not receive as many first preference votes this time as you did in the last election
you were not elected and did not receive at least 4% of first preference votes
you decided not to run in the next election
you did not spend as much on this state election campaign as you did on the last campaign
or
you did not provide an audited statement of expenditure by the due date.

What if I was underpaid?

If you were underpaid we will pay the balance within 30 days of receiving your audited statement of expenditure.

Underpayment could happen if you received more votes than you did in the last election.

Accepting banned donations

Accepting a banned political donation means your public funding will be reduced by twice that donation. Banned donations include donations above the general cap, from a foreign donor, or valued at more than $1,210 from an anonymous donor.

For example, an anonymous donation of $1,250 means your funding will be reduced by $2,500.

Funding uses

Public funding must be paid into your state campaign account.

You can spend this funding on costs related to running your state election campaign. This is called political or electoral expenditure.

This can include:

office rental
staffing costs (including time spent setting-up for promotions)
equipment (e.g. IT systems, vehicles, office stationery, etc.)
interest charges on loans for your campaign
utilities
travel related to your campaign
advertising (including production, distribution, publishing, etc.).

Public funding must not be used for general administration. You cannot use the 2nd, 3rd or 4th advance funding payments as security or collateral for a loan.