Western Australia’s Electoral Commissioner will have the power to refuse to register a political party looking to register with a name that could confuse or mislead voters at the ballot box.
The Government says the Electoral Amendment (Names of Registered Political Parties) Bill 2024 strengthens existing provisions which require the Commissioner to refuse to register a political party if the proposed name infringes certain criteria.
Under the reforms, the Commissioner will be required to refuse to register a political party if the party’s proposed name or abbreviation contains a word that is in an already registered political party’s name or abbreviation.
The Bill has been drafted to ensure that the reforms are applied to all parties seeking election of their candidates at the upcoming 8 March 2025 State Election.
There have been instances in Western Australia where political parties have been approved for registration with similar names to existing parties.
These include the Liberal Democratic Party, Liberals for Climate, Liberals for Forests, Independent Labor and more recently, the Democratic Labour Party was approved for registration with the registered abbreviation Labour DLP, creating clear risk of confusion.
The reforms are modelled on similar provisions within the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
The Electoral Act 1907 sets out criteria in relation to a political party’s proposed registered name that, if infringed, require the Commissioner to refuse the application for registration.
While the existing criteria in the Electoral Act 1907 serve an important purpose in reducing confusion for voters, they do not adequately address the risk of confusion caused by a political party seeking to use a word that is already contained in a registered party’s name or abbreviation, said Electoral Affairs Minister, John Quigley.
“The WA Labor Government has a strong track record in delivering transparency and fairness to electoral affairs, including by minimising the opportunity for voter confusion by how-to-vote cards to be registered, and by increasing transparency and accountability of political donations,” said Mr Quigley.
“It is important that the law minimises the risk that a voter may be confused due to registered political parties having the same, or very similar, names on the ballot paper.
“Both South Australia and the Commonwealth have enacted reforms aimed at reducing voter confusion by prohibiting a party from using a word that is the same, similar or a distinctive part of the name of another party,” he said.
