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4. Interveners N J Williams SC with C L Lenehan for the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, intervening (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor) W Sofronoff QC, Solicitor-General of the State of Queensland with G J D del Villar for the Attorney-General of the State of Queensland, intervening (instructed by Crown Law Qld) S G E McLeish SC, Solicitor-General for the State of Victoria with A D Pound for the Attorney-General for the State of Victoria, intervening (instructed by Victorian Government Solicitor) G R Donaldson SC, Solicitor-General for the State of Western Australia with C S Bydder for the Attorney-General for the State of Western Australia, intervening (instructed by State Solicitor (WA)) Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

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Union NSW v. New South Wales

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether Election Code s 96D, and 95G6 are inconsistent with the Australia Constitution.

Alleged Acts: The aforementioned provisions require that all political donors enroll and caps donations. The culmination of these two provisions limits donors to eligible voting individuals. NSW, a organizaiton, not eligible to vote filed suit alleging that framework violated the implied freedom of communication on political and governmental matters set forth in the Australia Constitution.

Summary: The state argued that the provisions were enacted to combat electoral corruption. However, the court considered the restriction overly broad to support the alleged threat to electoral integrity.

Conclusion: The court determined that because both sections 96D and 95G6 failed to meet the Lange test that the provision reasonably served a legitimate end without a reasonable alternative, the provisions were invalid.

Legal Issue(s)

Campaign Finance

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: Australia

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: Review of law

Date of decision: Dec 13, 2013

Geolocation

Latitude: -35.29772788

Longitude: 149.0992955

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

NSW v. New South Whales.pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Union NSW v. New South Wales

Primary Documents

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