I was just reading through some bills currently in parliament in WA and came across this amendment to the electoral act 1907. The way I read it is if you are a small party that is only competing in one LA district you are capped at 125k but if you are a bigger party with more candidates covering more LA districts you can spend less in a certain area and spend more against the smaller party stuck with the 125k cap. I find this unfair as if the smaller party manages to raise more funds through voter support they are still capped at 125k, where the major has capacity to spend far more than 125k if they don’t spend it in secure LA districts.
Not sure if this bill has or will pass though. Just shows how the big parties shit on the smaller ones and rig the game.
Caps for a political party
For the next State election political parties will have electoral expenditure capped
at $125,000 for every Legislative Assembly district and $125,000 for every
Legislative Council region contested. However, political parties may spend over the
capped amount in a particular district or region, although overspends would need
to be balanced by a reduction in other districts or regions. This provision allows
parties to determine how resources are allocated during the election campaign. For
a by-election a party can spend $300,000 in a district and a region.