Overview

Candidates contesting a local government election or by-election may be endorsed by a registered political party or nominated by 6 electors enrolled in the local government area or division/ward being contested.

A person becomes a candidate by nominating with and being certified by the ECQ. A person may also be considered a candidate prior to their nomination if they:

are elected or appointed councillor at any time during the disclosure period
have announced or otherwise publicly indicated an intention to be a candidate in an election
have otherwise indicated their intention to be a candidate in the election, for example, by accepting a gift made for the purpose of an election.

A candidate can only run for a mayoral or councillor position in a local government election – but not both.

As a candidate, you may choose to form a group with other candidates to campaign together in a local government election. You can find more information about groups of candidates here.

Candidates have obligations under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011 before, during, and after an election, whether they are elected or not.

Please click on the tabs above to find out about the requirements for candidates and how to become a candidate in a local government election.

Have you come across a term you don’t understand? Check our glossary for help.

Who can be a candidate?

All candidates must meet the following mandatory eligibility requirements as set out in the Local Government Act 2009, the City of Brisbane Act 2010 and the Local Government Electoral Act 2011.

To be a councillor, a person must:

be an adult Australian citizen (including an Australian citizen who holds dual citizenship with another country)
reside in the local government area for which they are nominating (note: if standing for election in an electoral division of a divided local government area, the candidate is not required to reside in that division but must live within the local government area)
be enrolled on the Queensland electoral roll
not be disqualified from being a councillor because of a conviction for the following types of offences:
- a treason offence
- an electoral offence
- a bribery offence
- an integrity offence
not be subject to other circumstances including:
- being an undischarged bankrupt
- being on probation, in prison, or on parole
- being a member of a state or federal parliament or a councillor of a local government in another state.

The legislation governing eligibility to become a councillor can be found in the Local Government Act 2009, the City of Brisbane Act 2010, and the Local Government Electoral Act 2011, available at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The ECQ and returning officers cannot give eligibility advice. If you are in doubt of your eligibility you should consult the relevant legislation or seek independent legal advice.

For Brisbane City Council elections, read the City of Brisbane Act 2010, section 153. For all other local government elections, read the Local Government Act 2009, section 153 .

Links to further information:

Fact sheet 1 – Eligibility to become a candidate

Completing mandatory training

During the 6 months before nominating, all candidates (including sitting councillors) must complete a free mandatory training course conducted by the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (DSDILGP).

So you want to be a councillor? will take about 90 minutes to complete. You can complete the training all at once or over several sessions. Each section is 10-15 minutes long.

The training can be completed on a computer or mobile device, but it will be easiest to complete on a computer. There are video and audio components.

A certificate will be available for download after successfully completed the mandatory training. The reference number on the certificate must be included on the candidate’s nomination form as proof of completing the course.

Associated entities of candidates

Under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011, a candidate and its associated entity are treated as one entity. An associated entity of a candidate is any entity which:

is controlled by a candidate
operates wholly or to a significant extent for the benefit of a candidate
operates for the dominant purpose of promoting a candidate.

For any gifts or loans made and electoral expenditure incurred, associated entities are required to meet the same real-time and summary return financial disclosure obligations as their candidate. Electoral expenditure incurred by an associated entity counts towards its candidate’s expenditure cap.

Associated entities must use the dedicated campaign bank account of their candidate for a local government election. An associated entity’s record keeping requirements are the same as its candidates.

More information for candidates and their associated entities about gifts and loans, incurring electoral expenditure, financial disclosure, compliance, and record keeping can be found by using the tabs above. The below fact sheet provides a more detailed funding and disclosure overview for associated entities, as well as information about what is not an associated entity of a candidate.

Links to further information:

Fact sheet 37 – Funding and disclosure overview for associated entities

Appointing or changing agents

Agents can play an important role in elections as they are responsible for ensuring election participants meet obligations under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011.

A candidate may choose to appoint an agent. If a candidate does not appoint an agent, the candidate is their own agent. If you do choose to appoint an agent, both you and your agent have a responsibility to familiarise yourselves with all relevant and current legislative provisions. Failure to do so cannot be used as an excuse for failing to comply with any legislative requirement.

For more information about who can be an agent, registration, removal requirements, and more, see the fact sheets below.

Links to further information:

Forms:

Using a dedicated campaign bank account

Dedicated campaign bank accounts for local government elections are required to ensure transparency of financial matters, including receiving gifts and loans, and incurring electoral expenditure.

You must open this campaign account before paying for any electoral expenditure or accepting any gifts or loans for the election. Candidates who do not accept donations must still have a dedicated campaign account, otherwise you will not be able to nominate.

You’ll need to notify the ECQ of your account details within 5 business days of:

publicly announcing an intent to contest the election
first accepting a gift
first incurring expenditure toward your campaign.

All gifts and loans must be deposited into your dedicated campaign bank account .

All campaign expenses including electoral expenditure must be paid from your dedicated campaign bank account. The account must not be used for any other purposes.

If you want to use your own personal money to fund your campaign, you must transfer it into your dedicated campaign bank account before using it to pay for campaign expenses.

There are restrictions about how amounts can be paid from the account. The use of a credit card is strictly prohibited.

Any amounts remaining in the account at the end of the election can only be dealt with in certain ways (see fact sheets below). Excess amounts cannot be transferred back into personal bank accounts.

Links to further information:

Receiving gifts and loans

It’s important that you understand what a gift or loan is so that you can meet your disclosure obligations under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011.

A gift is a transfer of money, property, or a service given without receiving something of equal or adequate value in return. A non-monetary gift (or gift-in-kind) is a gift of any goods or services other than money.

A gift includes:

money given to a candidate
services provided at no or below cost
electoral expenditure gifted to a candidate
uncharged interest or an amount forgiven on a loan
the part of a fundraising contribution that exceeds $200.

A gift does not include:

a property transferred under a will
a fundraising contribution of $200 or less
membership fees paid to a registered political party
money transferred from a candidate’s own personal funds to their dedicated campaign bank account
volunteer labour or incidental use of a volunteer’s vehicle or equipment.

A loan is any of the following provided by a person or entity other than a financial institution or by use of a credit card:

an advance of money
provision of credit or another form of financial accommodation
payment of an amount for, on behalf of, or at the request of, an entity, if there is an express or implied obligation to repay the amount
another transaction that is in effect a loan of money.

Note: this is not a comprehensive list of all types of gifts and loans. You should read Fact sheet 10 – Definition of gifts and loans for more detailed information.

Candidates have obligations to disclose gifts (including donations) and loans received. For more information about your disclosure obligations please click on the Real-time disclosure requirements tab above.

Prohibited donors

Queensland law bans political donations from property developers and industry bodies with property developers as a majority of their members.

It's illegal for a candidate to accept these prohibited donations.

For more information, see ECQ’s prohibited donor scheme page.

Anonymous gifts

It is unlawful for a candidate to receive anonymous gifts or loans totalling $500 or more. This includes gifts or loans where the name, address, or other required details of the donor are not known to the candidate.

Video overviews

What counts as a gift?

Links to further information:

Incurring electoral expenditure

The term electoral expenditure has a specific meaning for local government elections – it's incurred for a campaign purpose and can include the cost of expenses like:

opinion polling or research
advertisements broadcast at a cinema, on radio or television, or on the internet
billboards and signs.

This is not an exhaustive list – you should read the ECQ’s fact sheets and handbook for more detailed information about what is and what is not electoral expenditure, as not all campaign expenses will be considered electoral expenditure.

Expenditure caps have been introduced for the 2024 local government elections. The ECQ has calculated the caps for each local government area based on electoral roll data as of 1 July 2023.

View the notice of expenditure caps and number of electors PDF (0.25 MB).

All candidates have a capped expenditure period for the 2024 local government elections beginning on Monday 14 August 2023 and ending at 6pm on election day. During this period, you may only incur electoral expenses up to your capped amount.

The expenditure cap varies across each local government area on a sliding scale with reference to the number of electors. Brisbane City Council candidates have set caps. Your cap also varies based on whether you are contesting a mayoral or councillor position. The ECQ publishes the notice of the expenditure cap amounts for candidates on its website. This will be available:

for the regular quadrennial local government elections: before the capped period begins. (The 2024 local government elections expenditure caps notice is available now.)
for a by-election: at the same time as the notice for the election is issued.

Candidates must disclose their electoral expenditure to the ECQ in real-time during their disclosure period, as well as in an election summary return after the election.

Video overviews

Links to further information:

Electoral advertising and how-to-vote cards

There are specific requirements for candidates and registered political parties relating to electoral advertising and election material. You must ensure that you are aware of all regulations relating to:

the broadcast and publication of election material
the authorisation of election material
how-to-vote cards.

How-to-vote cards show how you want voters to rank their preferences on their ballot paper when voting for you in an election. How-to-vote cards have specific requirements under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011 and must be approved by the ECQ before you distribute them during an election period.

You must submit your how-to-vote card to the ECQ for approval at least 7 business days before the day you’ll distribute your cards. The ECQ then has up to 5 business days to review the card and provide you with an acceptance or rejection via email, with accepted cards being displayed on the ECQ’s website. Please be mindful of these timeframes – any printing costs incurred before the ECQ accepts a how-to-vote card will be at your own risk.

You can find more detailed information, including illustrations of acceptable how-to-vote cards, in the how-to-vote card fact sheet (see link below).

While federal and state elections and referendums have media blackout periods, these do not apply to local government elections in Queensland. The ECQ does not regulate media blackout laws.

Links to further information:

Real-time disclosure requirements

Candidates are required to use the ECQ’s Electronic Disclosure System (EDS) to disclose:

gifts and loans of $500 or more – including cumulative amounts that total $500 or more from a single donor
all electoral expenditure – once the total amount spent reaches $500 or more.

Most of the information in a disclosure return is accessible by the public.

Generally, disclosure returns must be lodged within 7 business days of the electoral expenditure being incurred, or gift or loan being received. This is known as real-time disclosure. In the last 7 business days before election day, disclosures of electoral expenditure made and gifts or loans received must be lodged within 24 hours.

After an election, you must also disclose the total value of all your electoral expenditure as well as gifts and loans you received – you can find more information about this by clicking on the Lodging an election summary return tab above.

Failure to disclose gifts or loans, or electoral expenditure, within the time required is an offence under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011.

Video overviews

Links to further information:

Record keeping

You must keep all records relating to an election campaign for 5 years after the day that the record is made, and you are subject to audit procedures and compliance activities conducted by the ECQ. There are substantial penalties for not complying with record keeping responsibilities and obligations.

Good record keeping supports full and accurate disclosure. As a candidate, you should:

record receipt of gifts and loans as soon as practical so they are not overlooked or forgotten
save any paper records electronically to ensure they are not destroyed
keep comprehensive records orderly for easy and quick retrieval
regularly back-up electronic records
ensure record keeping is up to date.

Links to further information:

Fact sheet 8 - Record keeping requirements

Nomination of a candidate

A candidate not endorsed by a registered political party may be nominated for the election by obtaining the signatures of 6 or more electors who live within the local government area (for undivided councils) or within the division or ward of the local government area (for divided councils) they are contesting.

A candidate endorsed by a registered political party must be nominated by the party’s registered officer .

Nominations must be lodged during the nomination period, which commences when the ECQ publishes the Notice of Election on its website. Nominations close strictly at midday on the last day of the nomination period. Nomination forms received by the ECQ after this time will not be accepted. A nomination deposit of $250 must be paid by cash, bank cheque, electronic funds transfer, or BPoint at the time of nomination. It cannot be paid by credit card.

Anyone planning to contest a local government election – including sitting councillors – should go to the Self Service portal to login or register.

As a candidate, you’re entitled to receive a copy of the electoral roll for the local government area or division/ward where you’re running for election. You can read more information about what information is and is not released, and the purposes for which you can use electoral roll information in Fact sheet 4 – Provision of electoral roll data to candidates.

Links to further information:

Lodging an election summary return

Disclosure returns provide transparency for the movement of money used to support election participants in a local government election.

In addition to reporting of gifts, loans, and electoral expenditure in real-time, you are required to lodge an election summary return within 15 weeks after a local government election.

The election summary return is a summary of all gifts and loans received and all electoral expenditure incurred for the purposes of an election. It must also include a bank statement from your dedicated campaign bank account. All other gifts and loans not disclosed in real-time must also be accounted for in the election summary return.

Video overviews

Election summary returns for local government participants

Links to further information:

Compliance

Election participants are encouraged to read about the ECQ’s Compliance Approach which includes the ECQ’s expectations of candidates and commitments to enforcing electoral laws. To report non-compliance, please check our Commitments and Expectations to ensure you are reporting the non-compliance to the correct agency.

The ECQ publishes a range of fact sheets and handbooks for election participants, including candidates. You can use the ECQ website’s information for candidates to learn about your obligations under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011. Candidates should also familiarise themselves with the full content of the relevant legislation and seek independent legal advice if required.

A candidate or councillor who commits an offence under the Local Government Electoral Act 2011 may be subject to fines or prosecution in court, depending on the seriousness of the offence. Further, a sitting councillor will be automatically suspended if they are charged with an integrity offence or a serious integrity offence as specified under either the Local Government Act 2009 or the City of Brisbane Act 2010.

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