Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 134A

  (1)   If:

  (aa)   one registered political party (the parent party ) was registered under section   126 before another registered party (the second party ); and

  (a)   the Electoral Commission is satisfied that:

  (i)   the name or logo of the parent party is the same as, or relevantly similar to, the name or logo of the second party and the parties are not related at the time of the objection; or

  (ii)   the name or logo of the second party is one that a reasonable person would think suggests that a connection or relationship exists between the second party and the parent party and that connection or relationship does not in fact exist; or

  (iii)   the name or logo of the second party contains a word that is in the name, or abbreviation of the name, of the parent party; and

  (b)   the registered officer of the parent party objects in writing to the continued use of the name or logo by the second party;

the Commission must:

  (d)   uphold the objection; and

  (e)   notify the registered officer of the second party, at the address specified in the Register, that the second party will be deregistered under section   137 if:

  (i)   it does not make an application under section   134 for a change of name or logo within 1 month of the date of the notice; or

  (ii)   it makes such an application, but the application is refused.

Note:   Subparagraph   (1)(a)(iii) has effect subject to subsections   129(5) and (6).

  (1A)   If, in relation to a second party mentioned in subsection   (1), there is more than one registered political party that meets both of the following conditions (each such party is an earlier registered party ):

  (a)   the party was registered before the second party;

  (b)   the party has in its name, or the abbreviation of its name, a word contained in the name or logo of the second party;

then only the registered officer of the first of the earlier registered parties to be registered with that word in its name or abbreviation may make an objection under paragraph   (1)(b) to the continued use of the name or logo by the second party.

  (1B)   For the purposes of subsection   (1A), if the earlier registered parties are a State branch, and the federal branch, of a federal party that were registered on the same day, the federal branch is taken to be the first of the earlier registered parties to be registered with the word in its name or abbreviation.

  (2)   For the purposes of paragraph   (1)(a), the name or logo of a party is relevantly similar to the name or logo of another party if, in the opinion of the Electoral Commission, the name or logo so nearly resembles the name or logo of the other party that it is likely to be confused with or mistaken for that name or logo.

  (2A)   The Electoral Commission must:

  (a)   give the parties to an objection under this section written notice of the reasons for its decision in relation to the objection if it upholds the objection; and

  (b)   take such steps as the Commission considers appropriate to publicise those reasons.

  (2B)   For the purposes of subsection   (2A), the parties to the objection are:

  (a)   the registered officer of the parent party; and

  (b)   the registered officer of the second party.

  (3)   In this section:

"logo" of a registered political party means the logo of the party that is entered in the Register.

"name" , in relation to a registered political party, means:

  (a)   the name of the party that is entered in the Register; or

  (b)   the abbreviation, entered in the Register, of the name of the party.