French CJ Hayne J Crennan J Kiefel J Bell J 4. The provisions in question – the issues 9 Provisions of these kinds are not limited to New South Wales. They have counterparts in legislation of the other States and Territories 19. The plaintiffs accept that the EFED Act seeks to address the problems identified and that its general objects are legitimate. The plaintiffs do not, however, accept that those purposes are furthered by the two provisions in issue in these proceedings. These two provisions were inserted by the Election Funding, Expenditure and Disclosures Amendment Act 2012 (NSW) and commenced in March 2012. 10 The first is s 96D, which appears in Div 4 of Pt 6. Sub-section (1) of s 96D provides: "It is unlawful for a political donation to a party, elected member, group, candidate or third-party campaigner to be accepted unless the donor is an individual who is enrolled on the roll of electors for State elections, the roll of electors for federal elections or the roll of electors for local government elections." 11 It will be recalled that the only restriction placed upon the making of political donations by the other provisions of the EFED Act is the cap on the amount that can be paid by any person, organisation or other entity in a financial year. Section 96D effectively denies the making of a political donation by anyone other than an elector by prohibiting acceptance of a donation from any source other than an elector. It therefore prohibits a donation being made by any individual who is not qualified to vote or who is qualified but not enrolled to vote, and any corporation, organisation or other entity. The following three sub-sections in s 96D create offences where an individual, corporation or other entity seeks to evade the effects of s 96D(1). 12 The other provision which the plaintiffs seek to impugn is s 95G(6), which effectively aggregates the amount spent by way of electoral communication expenditure by a party and its affiliates for the purposes of the capping provisions: "Electoral communication expenditure incurred by a party that is of or less than the amount specified … for the party … is to be treated as 19 See, for example, Electoral Act 2002 (Vic), Pt 12; Electoral Act 1992 (Q), Pt 11; Electoral Act 1907 (WA), Pt VI; Electoral Act (NT), Pt 10; Electoral Act 1992 (ACT), Pt 14.

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