Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018

Queensland
Local Government Electoral

(Implementing Stage 1 of
Belcarra) and Other
Legislation Amendment Bill
2018
Queensland
Local Government Electoral

(Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and
Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Part 2 Amendment of City of Brisbane Act 2010
3 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4 Amendment of s 153 (Disqualification for certain offences) . . . . 6
5 Omission of ss 174 and 175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6 Insertion of new ch 6, pt 2, div 5A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Division 5A Dealing with councillors’ personal interests in council
matters
177A Purpose of division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
177B Meaning of material personal interest . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
177C Councillor’s material personal interest at a meeting . 8
177D Meaning of conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
177E Councillor’s conflict of interest at a meeting . . . . . . . 11
177F Minister’s approval for councillor to participate or be present
to decide matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
177G Duty to report another councillor’s material personal interest
or conflict of interest at a meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
177H Offence to take retaliatory action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
177I Offence for councillor with material personal interest or
conflict of interest to influence others . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
177J Records about material personal interests and conflicts of
interests at meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7 Amendment of s 178 (What this division is about) . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8 Amendment of sch 1 (Dictionary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
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Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation
Amendment Bill 2018
Contents
Part 3 Amendment of Electoral Act 1992

9 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10 Amendment of s 2 (Definitions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
11 Amendment of s 197 (Definitions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
12 Replacement of pt 11, div 8, sdiv 3, hdg (Other gifts and loans) . 18
13 Insertion of new pt 11, div 8, sdiv 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Subdivision 4 Political donations from property developers
273 Meaning of prohibited donor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
274 Meaning of political donation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
275 Political donations by prohibited donors . . . . . . . . . . 24
276 Recovery of prohibited donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
277 Making of determination that entity is not a prohibited donor
......................................... 25
278 Revocation of determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
279 Register of determinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
14 Amendment of s 282A (Meaning of electoral expenditure) . . . . . 27
15 Insertion of new ss 307A–307C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
307A Offence about prohibited donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
307B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on particular political
donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
307C False or misleading information relating to determinations
......................................... 28
16 Amendment of s 308 (Recovery of payments) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
17 Amendment of s 374 (Right of appeal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
18 Amendment of s 385 (Offences under this part are summary) . . 29
19 Insertion of new s 385A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
385A Proceedings for indictable offence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
20 Insertion of new pt 13, div 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Division 9 Transitional provision for Local Government Electoral
(Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other
Legislation Amendment Act 2018
427 Obligation to repay particular political donations . . . . 31
Part 4 Amendment of Local Government Act 2009
21 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
22 Amendment of s 153 (Disqualification for certain offences) . . . . 32
23 Omission of ss 172 and 173 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
24 Insertion of new ch 6, pt 2, div 5A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
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Authorised by the Parliamentary Counsel
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Amendment Bill 2018
Contents
Division 5A Dealing with councillors’ personal interests in local

government matters
175A Purpose of division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
175B Meaning of material personal interest . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
175C Councillor’s material personal interest at a meeting . 34
175D Meaning of conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
175E Councillor’s conflict of interest at a meeting . . . . . . . 36
175F Minister’s approval for councillor to participate or be present
to decide matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
175G Duty to report another councillor’s material personal interest
or conflict of interest at a meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
175H Offence to take retaliatory action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
175I Offence for councillor with material personal interest or
conflict of interest to influence others . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
175J Records about material personal interests and conflicts of
interests at meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
25 Amendment of s 176 (What this division is about) . . . . . . . . . . . 43
26 Amendment of sch 4 (Dictionary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Part 5 Amendment of Local Government Electoral Act 2011
27 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
28 Replacement of s 3 (Purpose of this Act) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 Purposes of Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
29 Amendment of s 106 (Definitions for part) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
30 Insertion of new pt 6, div 1A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Division 1A Political donations from property developers
113 Meaning of prohibited donor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
113A Meaning of political donation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
113B Political donations by prohibited donors . . . . . . . . . . 51
113C Recovery of prohibited donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
113D Making of determination that entity is not a prohibited donor
......................................... 53
113E Revocation of determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
113F Register of determinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
113G Review of decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
31 Amendment of s 169 (False or misleading information) . . . . . . . 54
32 Insertion of new ss 194A–194C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
194A Offence about prohibited donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Contents
194B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on particular political

donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
194C False or misleading information relating to determinations
......................................... 56
33 Insertion of new s 201A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
201A Proceedings for particular indictable offences . . . . . . 57
34 Insertion of new pt 11, div 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Division 3 Transitional provision for Local Government Electoral
(Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other
Legislation Amendment Act 2018
212 Obligation to repay particular political donations . . . . 58
35 Amendment of schedule (Dictionary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Page 4
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2018
A Bill
for
An Act to amend the City of Brisbane Act 2010, the Electoral Act
1992, the Local Government Act 2009 and the Local Government
Electoral Act 2011 for particular purposes
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Amendment Bill 2018
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 1]
The Parliament of Queensland enacts— 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
Clause 1 Short title 3

This Act may be cited as the Local Government Electoral 4
(Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation 5
Amendment Act 2018. 6
Clause 2 Commencement 7
Parts 3 and 5 commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation. 8
Part 2 Amendment of City of Brisbane 9

Act 2010 10
Clause 3 Act amended 11

This part amends the City of Brisbane Act 2010. 12
Clause 4 Amendment of s 153 (Disqualification for certain 13

offences) 14
Section 153(5)(a), ‘174(5)’— 15
omit, insert— 16
177C(2), 177E(2) or (5), 177H, 177I(2) or (3) 17
Clause 5 Omission of ss 174 and 175 18

Sections 174 and 175— 19
omit. 20
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[s 6]
Clause 6 Insertion of new ch 6, pt 2, div 5A 1

Chapter 6, part 2— 2
insert— 3
Division 5A Dealing with councillors’ 4
personal interests in 5
council matters 6
177A Purpose of division 7

The purpose of this division is to ensure the 8
personal interests of councillors are dealt with in 9
an accountable and transparent way that meets 10
community expectations, if the interests relate to 11
matters to be considered— 12
(a) at a meeting of the council or any of its 13
committees; or 14
(b) by a council employee or contractor of the 15
council authorised to deal with the matter. 16
177B Meaning of material personal interest 17

(1) A councillor has a material personal interest in a 18
matter if any of the following stand to gain a 19
benefit, or suffer a loss, (either directly or 20
indirectly) depending on the outcome of 21
consideration of the matter— 22
(a) the councillor; 23
(b) a spouse of the councillor; 24
(c) a parent, child or sibling of the councillor; 25
(d) a person who is in a partnership with the 26
councillor; 27
(e) an employer, other than a government entity, 28
of the councillor; 29
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[s 6]
(f) an entity, other than a government entity, of 1

which the councillor is a member; 2
(g) another entity prescribed by regulation. 3
(2) However, a councillor does not have a material 4
personal interest in the matter if the councillor, or 5
another person or entity mentioned in subsection 6
(1), stands to gain a benefit or suffer a loss that is 7
no greater than that of other persons in Brisbane. 8
(3) Subsection (1)(c) only applies to a councillor if 9
the councillor knows, or ought reasonably to 10
know, that the councillor’s parent, child or sibling 11
stands to gain a benefit or suffer a loss. 12
177C Councillor’s material personal interest at a 13

meeting 14
(1) This section applies if— 15
(a) a matter is to be discussed at a meeting of 16
the council or any of its committees; and 17
(b) the matter is not an ordinary business 18
matter; and 19
(c) a councillor has a material personal interest 20
in the matter. 21
(2) The councillor must— 22
(a) inform the meeting of the councillor’s 23
material personal interest in the matter, 24
including the following particulars about the 25
interest— 26
(i) the name of the person or other entity 27
who stands to gain a benefit, or suffer a 28
loss, depending on the outcome of the 29
consideration of the matter at the 30
meeting; 31
(ii) how the person or other entity stands to 32
gain the benefit or suffer the loss; 33
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[s 6]
(iii) if the person or other entity who stands 1

to gain the benefit or suffer the loss is 2
not the councillor—the nature of the 3
councillor’s relationship to the person 4
or entity; and 5
(b) leave the place at which the meeting is being 6
held, including any area set aside for the 7
public, and stay away from the place while 8
the matter is discussed and voted on. 9
Maximum penalty— 10
(a) if the councillor votes on the matter with an 11
intention to gain a benefit, or avoid a loss, 12
for the councillor or another person or 13
entity—200 penalty units or 2 years 14
imprisonment; or 15
(b) otherwise—85 penalty units. 16
(3) If a majority of the councillors at a meeting of the 17
council inform the meeting about a material 18
personal interest in a matter under subsection 19
(2)(a), the council must delegate deciding the 20
matter under section 238, unless deciding the 21
matter can not be delegated under that section. 22
(4) A councillor does not contravene subsection (2) 23
by participating in the meeting, or being present 24
while the matter is discussed and voted on, if the 25
councillor’s participation or presence— 26
(a) is for the purpose of delegating deciding the 27
matter under subsection (3); or 28
(b) is approved under section 177F and the 29
councillor complies with the conditions of 30
the approval. 31
177D Meaning of conflict of interest 32

(1) A conflict of interest is a conflict that— 33
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[s 6]
(a) is between— 1
(i) a councillor’s personal interests; and 2
(ii) the public interest; and 3
(b) might lead to a decision that is contrary to 4
the public interest. 5
(2) However, a councillor does not have a conflict of 6
interest in a matter— 7
(a) merely because of— 8
(i) an engagement with a community 9
group, sporting club or similar 10
organisation undertaken by the 11
councillor in the councillor’s capacity 12
as a councillor; or 13
(ii) membership of a political party; or 14
(iii) membership of a community group, 15
sporting club or similar organisation if 16
the councillor is not an office holder for 17
the group, club or organisation; or 18
(iv) the councillor’s religious beliefs; or 19
(v) the councillor having been a student of 20
a particular school or the councillor’s 21
involvement with a school as a parent 22
of a student at the school; or 23
(b) if the councillor has no greater personal 24
interest in the matter than that of other 25
persons in Brisbane. 26
(3) Also, a councillor who is nominated by the 27
council to be a member of a board of a corporation 28
or other association does not have a personal 29
interest in matters relating to the corporation or 30
association merely because of the nomination or 31
appointment as a member. 32
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[s 6]
177E Councillor’s conflict of interest at a meeting 1

matter; and 6
(c) a councillor at the meeting— 7
(i) has a conflict of interest in the matter (a 8
real conflict of interest); or 9
(ii) could reasonably be taken to have a 10
conflict of interest in the matter (a 11
perceived conflict of interest). 12
(2) The councillor must inform the meeting about the 13
councillor’s personal interests in the matter, 14
interests— 16
(a) the nature of the interests; 17
(b) if the councillor’s personal interests arise 18
because of the councillor’s relationship 19
with, or receipt of a gift from, another 20
person— 21
(i) the name of the other person; and 22
(ii) the nature of the relationship or value 23
and date of receipt of the gift; and 24
(iii) the nature of the other person’s 25
interests in the matter. 26
Maximum penalty—100 penalty units or 1 year’s 27
imprisonment. 28
(3) Subsection (4) applies if— 29
(a) the other councillors who are entitled to vote 30
at the meeting are informed about a 31
councillor’s personal interests in a matter by 32
the councillor or another person; and 33
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[s 6]
(b) the councillor has not voluntarily left, and 1

stayed away from, the place where the 2
meeting is being held while the matter is 3
discussed and voted on. 4
(4) Subject to subsection (6), the other councillors 5
must decide— 6
(a) whether the councillor has a real conflict of 7
interest or perceived conflict of interest in 8
the matter; and 9
(b) if they decide the councillor has a real 10
conflict of interest or perceived conflict of 11
interest in the matter—whether the 12
councillor— 13
(i) must leave the place at which the 14
meeting is being held, including any 15
area set aside for the public, and stay 16
away from the place while the matter is 17
discussed and voted on; or 18
(ii) may participate in the meeting in 19
relation to the matter, including by 20
voting on the matter. 21
(5) The councillor must comply with a decision under 22
subsection (4) that the councillor must leave and 23
stay away from the place. 24
imprisonment. 26
council inform the meeting about personal 28
interests in the matter under subsection (2), the 29
council must delegate deciding the matter under 30
section 238, unless deciding the matter can not be 31
delegated under that section. 32
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[s 6]

the approval. 5
(8) In this section— 6
gift means a gift that is required, under a 7
regulation, to be recorded in a register of interests. 8
177F Minister’s approval for councillor to 9

participate or be present to decide matter 10
(1) The Minister may, by signed notice given to a 11
councillor, approve the councillor participating in 12
a meeting, or being present while a matter is 13
discussed and voted on, if— 14
(a) the matter could not otherwise be decided at 15
the meeting because of— 16
(i) the number of councillors subject to the 17
obligation under section 177C(2)(b); or 18
(ii) section 177E(6); and 19
(b) deciding the matter can not be delegated 20
under section 238. 21
(2) The Minister may give the approval subject to 22
conditions stated in the notice. 23
177G Duty to report another councillor’s material 24

personal interest or conflict of interest at a 25
meeting 26
matter; and 31
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[s 6]
(c) a councillor at the meeting believes, or 1

suspects, on reasonable grounds that another 2
councillor at the meeting has a material 3
personal interest, real conflict of interest or 4
perceived conflict of interest in the matter; 5
and 6
(d) the other councillor has not informed the 7
meeting about the interest under section 8
177C(2) or 177E(2). 9
(2) The councillor who has the belief or suspicion 10
must, as soon as practicable, inform the person 11
who is presiding at the meeting about— 12
(a) the belief or suspicion; and 13
(b) the facts and circumstances that form the 14
basis of the belief or suspicion. 15
Note— 16
Contravention of subsection (2) is misconduct that could 17
result in disciplinary action being taken against a 18
councillor. See sections 178(3)(c) and 183. 19
177H Offence to take retaliatory action 20

A person must not, because a councillor complied 21
with section 177G(2)— 22
(a) prejudice, or threaten to prejudice, the safety 23
or career of the councillor or another person; 24
or 25
(b) intimidate or harass, or threaten to 26
intimidate or harass, the councillor or 27
another person; or 28
(c) take any action that is, or is likely to be, 29
detrimental to the councillor or another 30
person. 31
Maximum penalty—167 penalty units or 2 years 32
imprisonment. 33
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[s 6]
177I Offence for councillor with material personal 1

interest or conflict of interest to influence 2
others 3
(1) This section applies to a councillor who has a 4
material personal interest, real conflict of interest 5
or perceived conflict of interest in a matter, other 6
than an ordinary business matter. 7
(2) The councillor must not influence, or attempt to 8
influence, another councillor to vote on the matter 9
in a particular way at a meeting of the council or 10
any of its committees. 11
imprisonment. 13
influence, a council employee or a contractor of 15
the council who is authorised to decide or 16
otherwise deal with the matter to do so in a 17
particular way. 18
imprisonment. 20
(4) A councillor does not commit an offence against 21
subsection (2) or (3) merely by participating in a 22
meeting of the council or any of its committees 23
about the matter, including by voting on the 24
matter, if the participation is authorised under— 25
(a) a decision mentioned in section 26
177E(4)(b)(ii); or 27
(b) an approval under section 177F. 28
177J Records about material personal interests 29

and conflicts of interests at meetings 30
(1) If section 177C applies to a matter to be discussed 31
at a meeting of the council or any of its 32
committees, the following information must be 33
recorded in the minutes of the meeting and on the 34
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[s 7]
council’s website— 1
(a) the name of the councillor who has a 2
material personal interest in the matter; 3
(b) the material personal interest, including the 4
particulars mentioned in section 177C(2)(a) 5
as described by the councillor; 6
(c) whether the councillor participated in the 7
meeting, or was present during the meeting, 8
under an approval under section 177F. 9
(2) If section 177E applies to a matter to be discussed 10
at a meeting of the council or any of its 11
committees, the following must be recorded in the 12
minutes of the meeting and on the council’s 13
website— 14
(a) the name of the councillor who has a real 15
interest in the matter; 17
(b) the councillor’s personal interests in the 18
matter, including the particulars mentioned 19
in section 177E(2) as described by the 20
councillor; 21
(c) the decisions made under section 177E(4) 22
and the reasons for the decisions; 23
(d) whether the councillor participated in the 24
under an approval under section 177F; 26
(e) if the councillor voted on the matter—how 27
the councillor voted on the matter; 28
(f) how the majority of councillors who were 29
entitled to vote at the meeting voted on the 30
matter. 31
Clause 7 Amendment of s 178 (What this division is about) 32

Section 178(3)(c), ‘175(4)’— 33
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[s 8]
omit, insert— 1
177G(2) 2
Clause 8 Amendment of sch 1 (Dictionary) 3

(1) Schedule 1— 4
insert— 5
perceived conflict of interest see section 6
177E(1)(c)(ii). 7
real conflict of interest see section 177E(1)(c)(i). 8
(2) Schedule 1, definition conflict of interest, ‘section 175(2)’— 9
omit, insert— 10
section 177D 11
(3) Schedule 1, definition material personal interest, ‘section 12
174(2)’— 13
omit, insert— 14
section 177B 15

1992 17

This part amends the Electoral Act 1992. 19
Clause 10 Amendment of s 2 (Definitions) 20

Section 2— 21
insert— 22
political donation, for part 11, division 8, 23
subdivision 4, see section 274. 24
prohibited donor, for part 11, division 8, 25
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[s 11]
subdivision 4, see section 273. 1
Clause 11 Amendment of s 197 (Definitions) 2

(1) Section 197, definition electoral expenditure— 3
omit. 4
(2) Section 197— 5
insert— 6
electoral expenditure— 7
(a) for division 4—see section 222; or 8
(b) for division 8, subdivision 4—means 9
expenditure incurred for the purposes of a 10
campaign for an election, whether or not the 11
expenditure is incurred during the election 12
period for the election; or 13
(c) for division 10—see section 282A. 14
political donation, for division 8, subdivision 4, 15
see section 274. 16
prohibited donor, for division 8, subdivision 4, 17
see section 273. 18
Clause 12 Replacement of pt 11, div 8, sdiv 3, hdg (Other gifts and 19

loans) 20
Part 11, division 8, subdivision 3, heading— 21
omit, insert— 22
Subdivision 3 Loans from entities other 23
than financial institutions 24
Clause 13 Insertion of new pt 11, div 8, sdiv 4 25

Part 11, division 8— 26
insert— 27
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[s 13]
Subdivision 4 Political donations from 1

property developers 2
273 Meaning of prohibited donor 3

(1) For this subdivision, prohibited donor— 4
(a) means— 5
(i) a property developer; or 6
(ii) an industry representative organisation, 7
a majority of whose members are 8
property developers; but 9
(b) does not include an entity for whom a 10
determination is in effect under section 277. 11
Note— 12
See section 307C(4) in relation to the non-effect 13
of a determination in particular circumstances. 14
(2) For subsection (1)(a), each of the following 15
persons is a property developer— 16
(a) a corporation engaged in a business that 17
regularly involves the making of relevant 18
planning applications by or on behalf of the 19
corporation— 20
(i) in connection with the residential or 21
commercial development of land; and 22
(ii) with the ultimate purpose of the sale or 23
lease of the land for profit; 24
(b) a close associate of a corporation mentioned 25
in paragraph (a). 26
(3) For deciding whether a corporation is a 27
corporation mentioned in subsection (2)(a), any 28
activity engaged in by the corporation for the 29
dominant purpose of providing commercial 30
premises at which the corporation, or a related 31
body corporate of the corporation, will carry on 32
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[s 13]
business is to be disregarded, unless the business 1

involves the sale or leasing of a substantial part of 2
the premises. 3
(4) Section 205 does not apply for this section. 4
close associate, of a corporation, means any of the 6
following persons— 7
(a) a related body corporate of the corporation; 8
(b) a director or other officer of the corporation; 9
(c) a person with more than 20% of the voting 10
power in the corporation or a related body 11
corporate of the corporation; 12
(d) a spouse of an individual mentioned in 13
paragraph (b) or (c); 14
(e) if the corporation or a related body 15
corporate of the corporation is a stapled 16
entity in relation to a stapled security—the 17
other stapled entity in relation to the stapled 18
security; 19
(f) if the corporation is a trustee, manager or 20
responsible entity in relation to a unit 21
trust—a person who holds more than 20% 22
of the units in the trust; 23
(g) if the corporation is a trustee, manager or 24
responsible entity in relation to a 25
discretionary trust—a beneficiary of the 26
trust. 27
director, of a corporation, see the Corporations 28
Act, section 9. 29
officer, of a corporation, see the Corporations 30
Act, section 9. 31
related body corporate, of a corporation, see the 32
Corporations Act, section 9. 33
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[s 13]
relevant planning application means— 1

(a) an application for, or to change, a 2
development approval under the Planning 3
Act 2016 or the repealed Sustainable 4
Planning Act 2009; or 5
(b) a request to the Minister administering the 6
Planning Act 2016 or the repealed 7
Sustainable Planning Act 2009 or a local 8
government about the making or 9
amendment of a planning instrument or 10
designation under either Act; or 11
(c) an application for, or to change, an SDA 12
approval under the State Development and 13
Public Works Organisation Act 1971; or 14
(d) a request or application to the Minister who 15
administers the State Development and 16
Public Works Organisation Act 1971 or the 17
Coordinator-General about the following 18
under that Act— 19
(i) the declaration or variation of a 20
coordinated project, prescribed 21
development, prescribed project or 22
State development area; 23
(ii) the imposition of, or change to, 24
conditions on a coordinated project; 25
(iii) the preparation or variation of a 26
development scheme; or 27
(e) an application for, or to change, a PDA 28
development approval under the Economic 29
Development Act 2012; or 30
(f) a request to the Minister who administers 31
the Economic Development Act 2012 or the 32
MEDQ about the making, declaration or 33
amendment of any of the following under 34
that Act— 35
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[s 13]
(i) a priority development area or 1

provisional priority development area; 2
(ii) a development scheme, interim land 3
use plan, or PDA-associated 4
development for a priority 5
development area; 6
(iii) a provisional land use plan or 7
PDA-associated development for a 8
or 10
(g) an application or request of a type 11
prescribed by regulation to be a relevant 12
planning application. 13
stapled entity— 14
(a) means an entity the interests in which are 15
traded along with the interests in another 16
entity as stapled securities; and 17
(b) for an entity mentioned in paragraph (a) that 18
is a trust, includes any trustee, manager or 19
responsible entity in relation to the trust. 20
voting power see the Corporations Act, section 21
610. 22
274 Meaning of political donation 23

(1) For this subdivision, each of the following is a 24
political donation— 25
(a) a gift made to or for the benefit of— 26
(i) a political party; or 27
(ii) an elected member; or 28
(iii) a candidate in an election; 29
(b) a gift made to or for the benefit of another 30
entity— 31
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[s 13]
(i) to enable the entity (directly or 1

indirectly) to make a gift mentioned in 2
paragraph (a) or to incur electoral 3
expenditure; or 4
(ii) to reimburse the entity (directly or 5
indirectly) for making a gift mentioned 6
in paragraph (a) or incurring electoral 7
expenditure; 8
(c) a loan from an entity other than a financial 9
institution that, if the loan were a gift, would 10
be a gift mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b). 11
(2) If a gift is made by a person in a private capacity 12
to an individual (the recipient) for the recipient’s 13
personal use and the recipient does not intend to 14
use the gift for an electoral purpose— 15
(a) the gift is not a political donation when it is 16
made; but 17
(b) if any part of the gift is used for an electoral 18
purpose, then, for the purposes of section 19
275(3)— 20
(i) that part of the gift is a political 21
donation; and 22
(ii) the recipient is taken to accept that part 23
of the gift at the time it is used for an 24
electoral purpose. 25
(3) A reference in subsection (2) to using a gift for an 26
electoral purpose is a reference to using the gift to 27
incur electoral expenditure or for the recipient’s 28
duties as an elected member. 29
(4) Despite section 201(4)(a) and (b), a reference in 30
this section to a gift includes a fundraising 31
contribution, to the extent the amount of the 32
contribution forms part of the proceeds of the 33
fundraising venture or function to which the 34
contribution relates. 35
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(5) Despite section 201(4)(d), a reference in this 1

section to a gift includes any of the following 2
amounts paid by a person to a political party, to 3
the extent the total amount of the person’s 4
payments in a calendar year exceeds $1,000— 5
(a) an amount paid as a subscription for a 6
person’s membership of the party; 7
(b) an amount paid for a person’s affiliation 8
with the party. 9
275 Political donations by prohibited donors 10

(1) It is unlawful for a prohibited donor to make a 11
political donation. 12
(2) It is unlawful for a person to make a political 13
donation on behalf of a prohibited donor. 14
(3) It is unlawful for a person to accept a political 15
donation that was made (wholly or in part) by or 16
on behalf of a prohibited donor. 17
(4) It is unlawful for a prohibited donor to solicit a 18
person to make a political donation. 19
(5) It is unlawful for a person to solicit, on behalf of 20
a prohibited donor, another person to make a 21
276 Recovery of prohibited donations 23

(1) If a person accepts a prohibited donation, the 24
following amount is payable by the person to the 25
State— 26
(a) if the person knew it was unlawful to accept 27
the prohibited donation—an amount equal 28
to twice the amount or value of the 29
prohibited donation; 30
(b) otherwise—an amount equal to the amount 31
or value of the prohibited donation. 32
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[s 13]
(2) The amount may be recovered by the State as a 1

debt due to the State from— 2
(a) if the recipient is a registered political party 3
that is not a corporation—the party’s agent; 4
or 5
(b) if the recipient is a candidate—the candidate 6
or the candidate’s agent; or 7
(c) otherwise—the recipient. 8
(3) The imposition of liability to pay an amount to the 9
State under this section— 10
(a) is not a punishment or sentence for an 11
offence against section 307A or any other 12
offence; and 13
(b) is not a matter to which a court may have 14
regard in sentencing an offender for an 15
offence. 17
prohibited donation means a political donation 19
that was unlawfully made or accepted under 20
section 275. 21
recipient means the entity to whom, or for the 22
benefit of whom, the prohibited donation was 23
made. 24
277 Making of determination that entity is not a 25

prohibited donor 26
(1) A person may apply to the commissioner for a 27
determination that the person, or another entity, is 28
not an entity mentioned in section 273(1)(a)(i) or 29
(ii). 30
(2) The application must be written and supported by 31
enough information to enable the commissioner 32
to decide the application. 33
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(3) If the commissioner is satisfied the entity to 1

whom the application relates is not an entity 2
mentioned in section 273(1)(a)(i) or (ii), the 3
commissioner must make the determination 4
sought by the applicant. 5
(4) Otherwise, the commissioner must— 6
(a) decide not to make the determination; and 7
(b) give the applicant an information notice 8
about the decision. 9
(5) A determination has effect for 1 year unless it is 10
earlier revoked. 11
278 Revocation of determination 12

(1) If, at any time, the commissioner ceases to be 13
satisfied the entity to whom a determination 14
relates is not an entity mentioned in section 15
273(1)(a)(i) or (ii), the commissioner may revoke 16
the determination by giving a written notice of 17
revocation to the entity and, if the entity was not 18
the applicant for the determination, the applicant. 19
(2) The notice of revocation given to the entity must 20
include, or be accompanied by, an information 21
notice about the decision to revoke the 22
determination. 23
279 Register of determinations 24

(1) The commissioner must keep a register of 25
determinations made under section 277. 26
(2) The register must include any revocations made 27
(3) The commissioner must make the register 29
available for public inspection without fee. 30
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Clause 14 Amendment of s 282A (Meaning of electoral expenditure) 1

Section 282A, ‘this part’— 2
omit, insert— 3
this division 4
Clause 15 Insertion of new ss 307A–307C 5

After section 307— 6
insert— 7
307A Offence about prohibited donations 8
(1) A person must not do an act or make an omission 9
that is unlawful under section 275 if the person 10
knows or ought reasonably to know of the facts 11
that result in the act or omission being unlawful 12
under that section. 13
imprisonment. 15
(2) An offence against subsection (1) is a 16
misdemeanour. 17
307B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on 18

particular political donations 19
(1) A person must not knowingly participate, directly 20
or indirectly, in a scheme to circumvent a 21
prohibition under division 8, subdivision 4 about 22
political donations. 23
Maximum penalty—1,500 penalty units or 10 24
years imprisonment. 25
(2) For subsection (1), it does not matter whether the 26
person also participates in the scheme for other 27
purposes. 28
(3) An offence against subsection (1) is a crime. 29
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Amendment Bill 2018
[s 15]
participate in, a scheme, includes— 1

(a) enable, aid or facilitate entry into, or the 2
carrying out of, a scheme; and 3
(b) organise or control a scheme. 4
scheme includes arrangement, agreement, 5
understanding, course of conduct, promise or 6
undertaking, whether express or implied. 7
307C False or misleading information relating to 8

determinations 9
(1) A person must not give the commissioner 10
information under section 277 that the person 11
knows is false or misleading in a material 12
particular. 13
imprisonment. 15
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person if the 16
person, when giving information in a document— 17
(a) tells the commissioner, to the best of the 18
person’s ability, how the document is false 19
or misleading; and 20
(b) if the person has, or can reasonably obtain, 21
the correct information—gives the correct 22
information. 23
misdemeanour. 25
(4) In a proceeding against a person for an offence 26
under section 307A, a determination made under 27
section 277 is taken to be of no effect if the person 28
knew, or ought reasonably to have known, at the 29
time of the relevant act or omission that 30
information given to, or used by, the 31
commissioner under section 277 was false or 32
misleading in a material particular. 33
Page 28
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[s 16]
Clause 16 Amendment of s 308 (Recovery of payments) 1

Section 308(1), ‘section 236(3) or 271(7)’— 2
omit, insert— 3
section 236(3), 271(6) or 276 4
Clause 17 Amendment of s 374 (Right of appeal) 5

Section 374, note, after ‘sections’— 6
insert— 7
277(4)(b), 278(2), 8
Clause 18 Amendment of s 385 (Offences under this part are 9

summary) 10
(1) Section 385, heading, ‘Offences’— 11
omit, insert— 12
Particular offences 13
(2) Section 385(1), after ‘part’— 14
insert— 15
, other than sections 307A to 307C, 16
(3) Section 385(2), ‘an offence’— 17
omit, insert— 18
a summary offence 19
Clause 19 Insertion of new s 385A 20

insert— 22
385A Proceedings for indictable offence 23
(1) A proceeding for an indictable offence against 24
this Act may be taken, at the election of the 25
prosecution— 26
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[s 19]
(a) by way of summary proceeding under the 1

Justices Act 1886; or 2
(b) on indictment. 3
(2) However, a magistrate must not hear an indictable 4
offence against section 307B summarily if— 5
(a) the magistrate is satisfied, at any stage of the 6
hearing and after hearing any submissions 7
by the prosecution and defence, that because 8
of the nature or seriousness of the offence or 9
any other relevant consideration the 10
defendant, if convicted, may not be 11
adequately punished on summary 12
conviction; or 13
(b) the magistrate is satisfied, on an application 14
made by the defence, that because of 15
exceptional circumstances the offence 16
should not be heard and decided summarily. 17
(3) If subsection (2) applies— 18
(a) the magistrate must proceed by way of an 19
examination of witnesses for an indictable 20
offence; and 21
(b) a plea of the person charged at the start of 22
the proceeding must be disregarded; and 23
(c) evidence brought in the proceeding before 24
the magistrate decided to act under 25
subsection (2) is taken to be evidence in the 26
proceeding for the committal of the person 27
for trial or sentence; and 28
(d) before committing the person for trial or 29
sentence, the magistrate must make a 30
statement to the person as required by the 31
Justices Act 1886, section 104(2)(b). 32
(4) The maximum penalty that may be summarily 33
imposed for an indictable offence is 100 penalty 34
units or 3 years imprisonment. 35
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[s 20]
Clause 20 Insertion of new pt 13, div 9 1

Part 13— 2
insert— 3
Division 9 Transitional provision for 4
Local Government 5
Electoral (Implementing 6
Stage 1 of Belcarra) and 7
Other Legislation 8
Amendment Act 2018 9
427 Obligation to repay particular political 10

donations 11
(a) a donation was made to a person (the 13
recipient) on or after 12 October 2017 and 14
before the commencement; and 15
Note— 16
The Local Government Electoral (Implementing 17
Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 18
2017 was introduced into the Legislative 19
Assembly on 12 October 2017. 20
(b) under section 275(3), it would have been 21
unlawful for the recipient to accept the 22
donation if it had been made immediately 23
after the commencement. 24
(2) The recipient must pay an amount equal to the 25
amount or value of the donation to the person who 26
made the donation within 30 days after the 27
commencement. 28
imprisonment. 30
misdemeanour. 32
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[s 21]
(4) Section 276 applies in relation to a contravention 1

of subsection (2) as if— 2
(a) a reference in section 276 to accepting a 3
prohibited donation were a reference to 4
contravening subsection (2); and 5
(b) a reference in section 276 to the amount or 6
value of a prohibited donation were a 7
reference to the amount that was not paid 8
under subsection (2). 9
Part 4 Amendment of Local 10

Government Act 2009 11

This part amends the Local Government Act 2009. 13
Clause 22 Amendment of s 153 (Disqualification for certain 14

offences) 15
Section 153(5)(a), ‘172(5)’— 16
omit, insert— 17
175C(2), 175E(2) or (5), 175H, 175I(2) or (3) 18
Clause 23 Omission of ss 172 and 173 19

Sections 172 and 173— 20
omit. 21
Clause 24 Insertion of new ch 6, pt 2, div 5A 22

Chapter 6, part 2— 23
insert— 24
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[s 24]
Division 5A Dealing with councillors’ 1

personal interests in local 2
government matters 3
175A Purpose of division 4

The purpose of this division is to ensure the 5
personal interests of councillors are dealt with in 6
an accountable and transparent way that meets 7
community expectations, if the interests relate to 8
matters to be considered— 9
(a) at a meeting of the local government or any 10
of its committees; or 11
(b) by a local government employee or 12
contractor of the local government 13
authorised to deal with the matter. 14
175B Meaning of material personal interest 15

(1) A councillor has a material personal interest in a 16
matter if any of the following stand to gain a 17
benefit, or suffer a loss, (either directly or 18
indirectly) depending on the outcome of 19
consideration of the matter— 20
(a) the councillor; 21
(b) a spouse of the councillor; 22
(c) a parent, child or sibling of the councillor; 23
(d) a person who is in a partnership with the 24
councillor; 25
(e) an employer, other than a government entity, 26
of the councillor; 27
(f) an entity, other than a government entity, of 28
which the councillor is a member; 29
(g) another entity prescribed by regulation. 30
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[s 24]
(2) However, a councillor does not have a material 1

personal interest in the matter if the councillor, or 2
another person or entity mentioned in subsection 3
(1), stands to gain a benefit or suffer a loss that is 4
no greater than that of other persons in the local 5
government area. 6
(3) Subsection (1)(c) only applies to a councillor if 7
the councillor knows, or ought reasonably to 8
know, that the councillor’s parent, child or sibling 9
stands to gain a benefit or suffer a loss. 10
175C Councillor’s material personal interest at a 11

meeting 12
the local government or any of its 15
committees; and 16
matter; and 18
(c) a councillor has a material personal interest 19
in the matter. 20
(2) The councillor must— 21
(a) inform the meeting of the councillor’s 22
material personal interest in the matter, 23
interest— 25
(i) the name of the person or other entity 26
who stands to gain a benefit, or suffer a 27
loss, depending on the outcome of the 28
consideration of the matter at the 29
meeting; 30
(ii) how the person or other entity stands to 31
gain the benefit or suffer the loss; 32
(iii) if the person or other entity who stands 33
to gain the benefit or suffer the loss is 34
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[s 24]
not the councillor—the nature of the 1

councillor’s relationship to the person 2
or entity; and 3
(b) leave the place at which the meeting is being 4
held, including any area set aside for the 5
public, and stay away from the place while 6
the matter is discussed and voted on. 7
Maximum penalty— 8
(a) if the councillor votes on the matter with an 9
intention to gain a benefit, or avoid a loss, 10
for the councillor or another person or 11
entity—200 penalty units or 2 years 12
imprisonment; or 13
(b) otherwise—85 penalty units. 14
local government inform the meeting about a 16
material personal interest in a matter under 17
subsection (2)(a), the local government must 18
delegate deciding the matter under section 257, 19
unless deciding the matter can not be delegated 20
the approval. 30
175D Meaning of conflict of interest 31

(1) A conflict of interest is a conflict that— 32
(a) is between— 33
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[s 24]
(i) a councillor’s personal interests; and 1

(ii) the public interest; and 2
(b) might lead to a decision that is contrary to 3
the public interest. 4
(2) However, a councillor does not have a conflict of 5
interest in a matter— 6
(a) merely because of— 7
(i) an engagement with a community 8
group, sporting club or similar 9
organisation undertaken by the 10
councillor in the councillor’s capacity 11
as a councillor; or 12
(ii) membership of a political party; or 13
(iii) membership of a community group, 14
sporting club or similar organisation if 15
the councillor is not an office holder for 16
the group, club or organisation; or 17
(iv) the councillor’s religious beliefs; or 18
(v) the councillor having been a student of 19
a particular school or the councillor’s 20
involvement with a school as a parent 21
of a student at the school; or 22
(b) if the councillor has no greater personal 23
interest in the matter than that of other 24
persons in the local government area. 25
(3) Also, a councillor who is nominated by the local 26
government to be a member of a board of a 27
corporation or other association does not have a 28
personal interest in matters relating to the 29
corporation or association merely because of the 30
nomination or appointment as a member. 31
175E Councillor’s conflict of interest at a meeting 32

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[s 24]

committees; and 3
matter; and 5
(c) a councillor at the meeting— 6
(i) has a conflict of interest in the matter (a 7
real conflict of interest); or 8
(ii) could reasonably be taken to have a 9
conflict of interest in the matter (a 10
perceived conflict of interest). 11
(2) The councillor must inform the meeting about the 12
councillor’s personal interests in the matter, 13
interests— 15
(a) the nature of the interests; 16
(b) if the councillor’s personal interests arise 17
because of the councillor’s relationship 18
with, or receipt of a gift from, another 19
person— 20
(i) the name of the other person; and 21
(ii) the nature of the relationship or value 22
and date of receipt of the gift; and 23
(iii) the nature of the other person’s 24
interests in the matter. 25
imprisonment. 27
(3) Subsection (4) applies if— 28
(a) the other councillors who are entitled to vote 29
at the meeting are informed about a 30
councillor’s personal interests in a matter by 31
the councillor or another person; and 32
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[s 24]
(b) the councillor has not voluntarily left, and 1

stayed away from, the place where the 2
meeting is being held while the matter is 3
discussed and voted on. 4
(4) Subject to subsection (6), the other councillors 5
must decide— 6
(a) whether the councillor has a real conflict of 7
the matter; and 9
(b) if they decide the councillor has a real 10
interest in the matter—whether the 12
councillor— 13
(i) must leave the place at which the 14
meeting is being held, including any 15
area set aside for the public, and stay 16
away from the place while the matter is 17
discussed and voted on; or 18
(ii) may participate in the meeting in 19
relation to the matter, including by 20
voting on the matter. 21
(5) The councillor must comply with a decision under 22
subsection (4) that the councillor must leave and 23
stay away from the place. 24
imprisonment. 26
local government inform the meeting about 28
personal interests in the matter under subsection 29
(2), the local government must delegate deciding 30
the matter under section 257, unless deciding the 31
matter can not be delegated under that section. 32
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[s 24]

the approval. 5
gift means a gift that is required, under a 7
regulation, to be recorded in a register of interests. 8
175F Minister’s approval for councillor to 9

participate or be present to decide matter 10
(1) The Minister may, by signed notice given to a 11
councillor, approve the councillor participating in 12
a meeting, or being present while a matter is 13
discussed and voted on, if— 14
(a) the matter could not otherwise be decided at 15
the meeting because of— 16
(i) the number of councillors subject to the 17
obligation under section 175C(2)(b); or 18
(ii) section 175E(6); and 19
(b) deciding the matter can not be delegated 20
(2) The Minister may give the approval subject to 22
conditions stated in the notice. 23
175G Duty to report another councillor’s material 24

personal interest or conflict of interest at a 25
meeting 26
committees; and 30
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[s 24]

matter; and 2
(c) a councillor at the meeting reasonably 3
believes, or reasonably suspects, that 4
another councillor at the meeting has a 5
material personal interest, real conflict of 6
the matter; and 8
(d) the other councillor has not informed the 9
meeting about the interest under section 10
175C(2) or 175E(2). 11
(2) The councillor who has the belief or suspicion 12
must, as soon as practicable, inform the person 13
who is presiding at the meeting about— 14
(a) the belief or suspicion; and 15
(b) the facts and circumstances that form the 16
basis of the belief or suspicion. 17
Note— 18
Contravention of subsection (2) is misconduct that could 19
result in disciplinary action being taken against a 20
councillor. See sections 176(3)(d) and 180. 21
175H Offence to take retaliatory action 22

A person must not, because a councillor complied 23
with section 175G(2)— 24
(a) prejudice, or threaten to prejudice, the safety 25
or career of the councillor or another person; 26
or 27
(b) intimidate or harass, or threaten to 28
intimidate or harass, the councillor or 29
another person; or 30
(c) take any action that is, or is likely to be, 31
detrimental to the councillor or another 32
person. 33
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[s 24]

imprisonment. 2
175I Offence for councillor with material personal 3

interest or conflict of interest to influence 4
others 5
(1) This section applies to a councillor who has a 6
material personal interest, real conflict of interest 7
or perceived conflict of interest in a matter, other 8
than an ordinary business matter. 9
influence, another councillor to vote on the matter 11
in a particular way at a meeting of the local 12
government or any of its committees. 13
imprisonment. 15
influence, a local government employee or a 17
contractor of the local government who is 18
authorised to decide or otherwise deal with the 19
matter to do so in a particular way. 20
imprisonment. 22
(4) A councillor does not commit an offence against 23
subsection (2) or (3) merely by participating in a 24
meeting of the local government or any of its 25
committees about the matter, including by voting 26
on the matter, if the participation is authorised 27
under— 28
(a) a decision mentioned in section 29
175E(4)(b)(ii); or 30
(b) an approval under section 175F. 31
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[s 24]
175J Records about material personal interests 1

and conflicts of interests at meetings 2
(1) If section 175C applies to a matter to be discussed 3
at a meeting of the local government or any of its 4
committees, the following information must be 5
recorded in the minutes of the meeting and on the 6
local government’s website— 7
(a) the name of the councillor who has a 8
material personal interest in the matter; 9
(b) the material personal interest, including the 10
particulars mentioned in section 175C(2)(a) 11
as described by the councillor; 12
(c) whether the councillor participated in the 13
under an approval under section 175F. 15
(2) If section 175E applies to a matter to be discussed 16
at a meeting of the local government or any of its 17
committees, the following must be recorded in the 18
minutes of the meeting and on the local 19
government’s website— 20
(a) the name of the councillor who has a real 21
interest in the matter; 23
(b) the councillor’s personal interests in the 24
matter, including the particulars mentioned 25
in section 175E(2) as described by the 26
councillor; 27
(c) the decisions made under section 175E(4) 28
and the reasons for the decisions; 29
(d) whether the councillor participated in the 30
under an approval under section 175F; 32
(e) if the councillor voted on the matter—how 33
the councillor voted on the matter; 34
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[s 25]
(f) how the majority of councillors who were 1

entitled to vote at the meeting voted on the 2
matter. 3
Clause 25 Amendment of s 176 (What this division is about) 4

Section 176(3)(d), ‘173(4)’— 5
omit, insert— 6
175G(2) 7
Clause 26 Amendment of sch 4 (Dictionary) 8

(1) Schedule 4— 9
insert— 10
perceived conflict of interest see section 11
175E(1)(c)(ii). 12
real conflict of interest see section 175E(1)(c)(i). 13
(2) Schedule 4, definition conflict of interest, ‘section 173(2)’— 14
omit, insert— 15
section 175D 16
(3) Schedule 4, definition material personal interest, ‘section 17
172(2)’— 18
omit, insert— 19
section 175B 20
Part 5 Amendment of Local 21

Government Electoral Act 2011 22

This part amends the Local Government Electoral Act 2011. 24
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[s 28]
Clause 28 Replacement of s 3 (Purpose of this Act) 1

Section 3— 2
omit, insert— 3
3 Purposes of Act 4
The purposes of this Act are to— 5
(a) ensure the transparent conduct of elections 6
of councillors of Queensland’s local 7
governments; and 8
(b) ensure and reinforce integrity in 9
Queensland’s local governments, including, 10
for example, by minimising the risk of 11
corruption in relation to— 12
(i) the election of councillors; and 13
(ii) the good governance of, and by, local 14
government. 15
Clause 29 Amendment of s 106 (Definitions for part) 16

Section 106— 17
insert— 18
electoral expenditure means expenditure 19
incurred for the purposes of a campaign for an 20
election, whether or not the expenditure is 21
incurred during the election period for the 22
election. 23
information notice, about a decision, means a 24
notice that states— 25
(a) the decision; and 26
(b) the reasons for the decision; and 27
(c) that the person to whom the notice is given 28
may apply to the electoral commissioner for 29
a review of the decision within 20 business 30
days after the person receives the notice; and 31
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[s 30]
(d) how to apply for a review. 1

loan means any of the following made other than 2
by use of a credit card— 3
(a) an advance of money; 4
(b) a provision of credit or another form of 5
financial accommodation; 6
(c) a payment of an amount for, on account of, 7
on behalf of or at the request of an entity, if 8
there is an express or implied obligation to 9
repay the amount; 10
(d) a transaction (whatever its terms or form) 11
that in substance effects a loan of money. 12
political donation, for division 1A, see section 13
113A. 14
prohibited donor, for division 1A, see section 15
113(1). 16
Clause 30 Insertion of new pt 6, div 1A 17

Part 6— 18
insert— 19
Division 1A Political donations from 20
property developers 21
113 Meaning of prohibited donor 22

(1) For this division, prohibited donor— 23
(a) means— 24
(i) a property developer; or 25
(ii) an industry representative organisation, 26
a majority of whose members are 27
property developers; but 28
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[s 30]
(b) does not include an entity for whom a 1

determination is in effect under section 2
113D. 3
Note— 4
See section 194C(4) in relation to the non-effect 5
of a determination in particular circumstances. 6
(2) For subsection (1)(a), each of the following 7
persons is a property developer— 8
(a) a corporation engaged in a business that 9
regularly involves the making of relevant 10
planning applications by or on behalf of the 11
corporation— 12
(i) in connection with the residential or 13
commercial development of land; and 14
(ii) with the ultimate purpose of the sale or 15
lease of the land for profit; 16
(b) a close associate of a corporation mentioned 17
in paragraph (a). 18
(3) For deciding whether a corporation is a 19
corporation mentioned in subsection (2)(a), any 20
activity engaged in by the corporation for the 21
dominant purpose of providing commercial 22
premises at which the corporation, or a related 23
body corporate of the corporation, will carry on 24
business is to be disregarded, unless the business 25
involves the sale or leasing of a substantial part of 26
the premises. 27
close associate, of a corporation, means any of the 29
following persons— 30
(a) a related body corporate of the corporation; 31
(b) a director or other officer of the corporation; 32
Page 46
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[s 30]
(c) a person with more than 20% of the voting 1

power in the corporation or a related body 2
corporate of the corporation; 3
(d) a spouse of an individual mentioned in 4
paragraph (b) or (c); 5
(e) if the corporation or a related body 6
corporate of the corporation is a stapled 7
entity in relation to a stapled security—the 8
other stapled entity in relation to the stapled 9
security; 10
(f) if the corporation is a trustee, manager or 11
responsible entity in relation to a unit 12
trust—a person who holds more than 20% 13
of the units in the trust; 14
(g) if the corporation is a trustee, manager or 15
responsible entity in relation to a 16
discretionary trust—a beneficiary of the 17
trust. 18
director, of a corporation, see the Corporations 19
Act, section 9. 20
officer, of a corporation, see the Corporations 21
Act, section 9. 22
related body corporate, of a corporation, see the 23
Corporations Act, section 9. 24
relevant planning application means— 25
(a) an application for, or to change, a 26
development approval under the Planning 27
Act 2016 or the repealed Sustainable 28
Planning Act 2009; or 29
(b) a request to the Minister administering the 30
Planning Act 2016 or the repealed 31
Sustainable Planning Act 2009 or a local 32
government about the making or 33
amendment of a planning instrument or 34
designation under either Act; or 35
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[s 30]
(c) an application for, or to change, an SDA 1

approval under the State Development and 2
Public Works Organisation Act 1971; or 3
(d) a request or application to the Minister who 4
administers the State Development and 5
Public Works Organisation Act 1971 or the 6
Coordinator-General about any of the 7
following under that Act— 8
(i) the declaration or variation of a 9
coordinated project, prescribed 10
development, prescribed project or 11
State development area; 12
(ii) the imposition of, or change to, 13
conditions on a coordinated project; 14
(iii) the preparation or variation of a 15
development scheme; or 16
(e) an application for, or to change, a PDA 17
development approval under the Economic 18
Development Act 2012; or 19
(f) a request to the Minister who administers 20
the Economic Development Act 2012 or the 21
MEDQ about the making, declaration or 22
amendment of any of the following under 23
that Act— 24
(i) a priority development area or 25
(ii) a development scheme, interim land 27
use plan, or PDA-associated 28
development for a priority 29
development area; 30
(iii) a provisional land use plan or 31
PDA-associated development for a 32
or 34
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[s 30]
(g) an application or request of a type 1

prescribed by regulation to be a relevant 2
planning application. 3
stapled entity— 4
(a) means an entity the interests in which are 5
traded along with the interests in another 6
entity as stapled securities; and 7
(b) for an entity mentioned in paragraph (a) that 8
is a trust, includes any trustee, manager or 9
responsible entity in relation to the trust. 10
voting power see the Corporations Act, section 11
610. 12
113A Meaning of political donation 13

(1) For this division, each of the following is a 14
political donation— 15
(a) a gift made to or for the benefit of— 16
(i) a political party; or 17
(ii) a councillor of a local government; or 18
(iii) a candidate or group of candidates in 19
an election; 20
(b) a gift made to or for the benefit of another 21
entity— 22
(i) to enable the entity (directly or 23
indirectly) to make a gift mentioned in 24
paragraph (a) or to incur electoral 25
expenditure; or 26
(ii) to reimburse the entity (directly or 27
indirectly) for making a gift mentioned 28
in paragraph (a) or incurring electoral 29
expenditure; 30
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[s 30]
(c) a loan from an entity other than a financial 1

institution that, if the loan were a gift, would 2
be a gift mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b). 3
(2) If a gift is made by a person in a private capacity 4
to an individual (the recipient) for the recipient’s 5
personal use and the recipient does not intend to 6
use the gift for an electoral purpose— 7
(a) the gift is not a political donation when it is 8
made; but 9
(b) if any part of the gift is used for an electoral 10
purpose, then, for the purposes of section 11
113B(3)— 12
(i) that part of the gift is a political 13
donation; and 14
(ii) the recipient is taken to accept that part 15
of the gift at the time it is used for an 16
electoral purpose. 17
(3) A reference in subsection (2) to using a gift for an 18
electoral purpose is a reference to using the gift to 19
incur electoral expenditure or for the recipient’s 20
duties as a councillor of a local government. 21
disposition of property see section 107(3). 23
gift means— 24
(a) the disposition of property or the provision 25
of a service, without consideration or for a 26
consideration that is less than the market 27
value, but does not include— 28
(i) transmission of property under a will; 29
or 30
(ii) provision of a service by volunteer 31
labour; or 32
(b) an amount of interest that would have been 33
payable on a loan if— 34
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[s 30]
(i) the loan had been made on terms 1

requiring the payment of interest at the 2
generally prevailing interest rate for a 3
loan of that kind; and 4
(ii) any interest payable had not been 5
waived; and 6
(iii) any interest payments were not 7
capitalised; or 8
(c) an amount paid for attendance at or 9
participation in a fundraising activity, to the 10
extent the amount forms part of the proceeds 11
of the fundraising activity to which it 12
relates; or 13
(d) any of the following amounts paid by a 14
person to a political party, to the extent the 15
total amount of the person’s payments in a 16
calendar year exceeds $1,000— 17
(i) an amount paid as a subscription for a 18
person’s membership of the party; 19
(ii) an amount paid for a person’s 20
affiliation with the party. 21
113B Political donations by prohibited donors 22

(1) It is unlawful for a prohibited donor to make a 23
(2) It is unlawful for a person to make a political 25
donation on behalf of a prohibited donor. 26
(3) It is unlawful for a person to accept a political 27
donation that was made (wholly or in part) by or 28
on behalf of a prohibited donor. 29
(4) It is unlawful for a prohibited donor to solicit a 30
person to make a political donation. 31
(5) It is unlawful for a person to solicit, on behalf of 32
a prohibited donor, another person to make a 33
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[s 30]
113C Recovery of prohibited donations 2

(1) If a person accepts a prohibited donation, the 3
following amount is payable by the person to the 4
State— 5
(a) if the person knew it was unlawful to accept 6
the prohibited donation—an amount equal 7
to twice the amount or value of the 8
prohibited donation; 9
(b) otherwise—an amount equal to the amount 10
or value of the prohibited donation. 11
(2) The amount may be recovered by the State as a 12
debt due to the State from— 13
(a) if the recipient is a registered political party 14
that is not a corporation—the party’s agent; 15
or 16
(b) if the recipient is a group of candidates—the 17
members of the group or the group’s agent; 18
or 19
(c) if the recipient is a candidate—the candidate 20
or the candidate’s agent; or 21
(d) otherwise—the recipient. 22
(3) The imposition of liability to pay an amount to the 23
State under this section— 24
(a) is not a punishment or sentence for an 25
offence; and 27
(b) is not a matter to which a court may have 28
regard in sentencing an offender for an 29
offence. 31
(4) An action in a court to recover an amount due to 32
the State under this section may be brought in the 33
Page 52
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[s 30]
name of the electoral commission. 1

(5) Any process in the action required to be served on 2
the State may be served on the electoral 3
commission. 4
prohibited donation means a political donation 6
that was unlawfully made or accepted under 7
section 113B. 8
recipient means the entity to whom, or for the 9
benefit of whom, the prohibited donation was 10
made. 11
113D Making of determination that entity is not a 12

prohibited donor 13
(1) A person may apply to the electoral commissioner 14
for a determination that the person, or another 15
entity, is not an entity mentioned in section 16
113(1)(a)(i) or (ii). 17
(2) The application must be written and supported by 18
enough information to enable the electoral 19
commissioner to decide the application. 20
(3) If the electoral commissioner is satisfied the entity 21
to whom the application relates is not an entity 22
mentioned in section 113(1)(a)(i) or (ii), the 23
electoral commissioner must make the 24
determination sought by the applicant. 25
(4) Otherwise, the electoral commissioner must— 26
(a) decide not to make the determination; and 27
(b) give the applicant an information notice 28
about the decision. 29
(5) A determination has effect for 1 year unless it is 30
earlier revoked. 31
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[s 31]
113E Revocation of determination 1

(1) If, at any time, the electoral commissioner ceases 2
to be satisfied the entity to whom a determination 3
relates is not an entity mentioned in section 4
113(1)(a)(i) or (ii), the electoral commissioner 5
may revoke the determination by giving a written 6
notice of revocation to the entity and, if the entity 7
was not the applicant for the determination, the 8
applicant. 9
(2) The notice of revocation given to the entity must 10
include, or be accompanied by, an information 11
notice about the decision to revoke the 12
determination. 13
113F Register of determinations 14

(1) The electoral commissioner must keep a register 15
of determinations made under section 113D. 16
(2) The register must include any revocations made 17
under section 113E. 18
(3) The electoral commissioner must make the 19
register available for public inspection without 20
fee. 21
113G Review of decisions 22

A person who is given, or is entitled to be given, 23
an information notice about a decision under this 24
division has a right to appeal against the decision 25
under the Electoral Act 1992, part 11, division 20, 26
as if the decision were a decision to which section 27
277(4)(b) or 278(2) of that Act applied. 28
Clause 31 Amendment of s 169 (False or misleading information) 29

Section 169(2)— 30
insert— 31
Page 54
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Amendment Bill 2018
[s 32]
(c) information given to the electoral 1

commissioner under section 113D. 2
Clause 32 Insertion of new ss 194A–194C 3

Part 9, division 5— 4
insert— 5
194A Offence about prohibited donations 6
(1) A person must not do an act or make an omission 7
that is unlawful under section 113B if the person 8
knows or ought reasonably to know of the facts 9
that result in the act or omission being unlawful 10
imprisonment. 13
misdemeanour. 15
194B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on 16

particular political donations 17
(1) A person must not knowingly participate, directly 18
or indirectly, in a scheme to circumvent a 19
prohibition under part 6, division 1A about 20
political donations. 21
Maximum penalty—1,500 penalty units or 10 22
years imprisonment. 23
(2) For subsection (1), it does not matter whether the 24
person also participates in the scheme for other 25
purposes. 26
(3) An offence against subsection (1) is a crime. 27
participate in, a scheme, includes— 29
Page 55
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[s 32]
(a) enable, aid or facilitate entry into, or the 1

carrying out of, a scheme; and 2
(b) organise or control a scheme. 3
scheme includes arrangement, agreement, 4
understanding, course of conduct, promise or 5
undertaking, whether express or implied. 6
194C False or misleading information relating to 7

determinations 8
(1) A person must not give the electoral 9
commissioner information under section 113D 10
that the person knows is false or misleading in a 11
material particular. 12
imprisonment. 14
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person if the 15
person, when giving information in a document— 16
(a) tells the electoral commissioner, to the best 17
of the person’s ability, how the document is 18
false or misleading; and 19
(b) if the person has, or can reasonably obtain, 20
the correct information—gives the correct 21
information. 22
misdemeanour. 24
(4) In a proceeding against a person for an offence 25
under section 194A, a determination made under 26
section 113D is taken to be of no effect if the 27
person knew, or ought reasonably to have known, 28
at the time of the relevant act or omission that 29
information given to, or used by, the electoral 30
commissioner under section 113D was false or 31
misleading in a material particular. 32
Page 56
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[s 33]
Clause 33 Insertion of new s 201A 1

insert— 3
201A Proceedings for particular indictable 4
offences 5
(1) Proceedings for an indictable offence against this 6
Act, other than a designated electoral offence 7
under section 201, may be taken, at the election of 8
the prosecution— 9
(a) by way of summary proceeding under the 10
Justices Act 1886; or 11
(b) on indictment. 12
(2) However, a magistrate must not hear an indictable 13
offence against section 194B summarily if— 14
(a) the magistrate is satisfied, at any stage of the 15
hearing and after hearing any submissions 16
by the prosecution and defence, that because 17
of the nature or seriousness of the offence or 18
any other relevant consideration the 19
defendant, if convicted, may not be 20
adequately punished on summary 21
conviction; or 22
(b) the magistrate is satisfied, on an application 23
made by the defence, that because of 24
exceptional circumstances the offence 25
should not be heard and decided summarily. 26
(3) If subsection (2) applies— 27
(a) the magistrate must proceed by way of an 28
examination of witnesses for an indictable 29
offence; and 30
(b) a plea of the person charged at the start of 31
the proceeding must be discharged; and 32
(c) evidence brought in the proceeding before 33
the magistrate decided to act under 34
Page 57
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[s 34]
subsection (2) is taken to be evidence in the 1

proceeding for the committal of the person 2
for trial or sentence; and 3
(d) before committing the person for trial or 4
sentence, the magistrate must make a 5
statement to the person as required by the 6
Justices Act 1886, section 104(2)(b). 7
(4) The maximum penalty that may be summarily 8
imposed for an indictable offence is 100 penalty 9
units or 3 years imprisonment. 10
Clause 34 Insertion of new pt 11, div 3 11

Part 11— 12
insert— 13
Division 3 Transitional provision for 14
Local Government 15
Electoral (Implementing 16
Stage 1 of Belcarra) and 17
Other Legislation 18
Amendment Act 2018 19
212 Obligation to repay particular political 20

donations 21
(a) a donation was made to a person (the 23
recipient) on or after 12 October 2017 and 24
before the commencement; and 25
Note— 26
The Local Government Electoral (Implementing 27
Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 28
2017 was introduced into the Legislative 29
Assembly on 12 October 2017. 30
Page 58
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[s 35]
(b) under section 113B(3), it would have been 1

unlawful for the recipient to accept the 2
donation if it had been made immediately 3
after the commencement. 4
(2) The recipient must pay an amount equal to the 5
amount or value of the donation to the person who 6
made the donation within 30 days after the 7
commencement. 8
imprisonment. 10
misdemeanour. 12
(4) Section 113C applies in relation to a 13
contravention of subsection (2) as if— 14
(a) a reference in section 113C to accepting a 15
prohibited donation were a reference to 16
contravening subsection (2); and 17
(b) a reference in section 113C to the amount or 18
value of a prohibited donation were a 19
reference to the amount that was not paid 20
under subsection (2). 21
Clause 35 Amendment of schedule (Dictionary) 22

Schedule— 23
insert— 24
electoral expenditure, for part 6, see section 106. 25
information notice, about a decision, for part 6, 26
see section 106. 27
loan, for part 6, see section 106. 28
political donation, for part 6, division 1A, see 29
section 113A. 30
prohibited donor, for part 6, division 1A, see 31
section 113(1). 32
Page 59
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[s 35]
© State of Queensland 2018
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Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018

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Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018

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Queensland

Local Government Electoral

Local Government Electoral

Part 3 Amendment of Electoral Act 1992

Division 5A Dealing with councillors’ personal interests in local

194B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on particular political

The Parliament of Queensland enacts— 1

Clause 1 Short title 3

Part 2 Amendment of City of Brisbane 9

Clause 3 Act amended 11

Clause 4 Amendment of s 153 (Disqualification for certain 13

Clause 5 Omission of ss 174 and 175 18

Clause 6 Insertion of new ch 6, pt 2, div 5A 1

177A Purpose of division 7

177B Meaning of material personal interest 17

(f) an entity, other than a government entity, of 1

177C Councillor’s material personal interest at a 13

(iii) if the person or other entity who stands 1

177D Meaning of conflict of interest 32

177E Councillor’s conflict of interest at a meeting 1

(b) the councillor has not voluntarily left, and 1

(a) is for the purpose of delegating deciding the 1

177F Minister’s approval for councillor to 9

177G Duty to report another councillor’s material 24

(c) a councillor at the meeting believes, or 1

177H Offence to take retaliatory action 20

177I Offence for councillor with material personal 1

177J Records about material personal interests 29

Clause 7 Amendment of s 178 (What this division is about) 32

Clause 8 Amendment of sch 1 (Dictionary) 3

Part 3 Amendment of Electoral Act 16

Clause 9 Act amended 18

Clause 10 Amendment of s 2 (Definitions) 20

subdivision 4, see section 273. 1

Clause 11 Amendment of s 197 (Definitions) 2

Clause 12 Replacement of pt 11, div 8, sdiv 3, hdg (Other gifts and 19

Clause 13 Insertion of new pt 11, div 8, sdiv 4 25

Subdivision 4 Political donations from 1

273 Meaning of prohibited donor 3

business is to be disregarded, unless the business 1

relevant planning application means— 1

(i) a priority development area or 1

274 Meaning of political donation 23

(i) to enable the entity (directly or 1

(5) Despite section 201(4)(d), a reference in this 1

275 Political donations by prohibited donors 10

276 Recovery of prohibited donations 23

(2) The amount may be recovered by the State as a 1

277 Making of determination that entity is not a 25

(3) If the commissioner is satisfied the entity to 1

278 Revocation of determination 12

279 Register of determinations 24

Clause 14 Amendment of s 282A (Meaning of electoral expenditure) 1

Clause 15 Insertion of new ss 307A–307C 5

307B Schemes to circumvent prohibition on 18

participate in, a scheme, includes— 1

307C False or misleading information relating to 8

Clause 16 Amendment of s 308 (Recovery of payments) 1

Clause 17 Amendment of s 374 (Right of appeal) 5

Clause 18 Amendment of s 385 (Offences under this part are 9

Clause 19 Insertion of new s 385A 20

(a) by way of summary proceeding under the 1

Clause 20 Insertion of new pt 13, div 9 1

427 Obligation to repay particular political 10