How to check state politicians’ conflicts of interest
I’ve been running BURN THE REGISTER for the past year. It’s a community journalism project that has made the register of interests for federal MPs searchable.
It’s gone incredibly well thanks to the enthusiasm from a community of almost 200 volunteers. We’ve transcribed more than 8000 pages of disclosures, making this long-locked-up data available to search.
What’s next? Ongoing coding improvements and more transcription are the first priorities.
But in the long-term, one option is to incorporate the state registers to make an all-in-one search for political conflicts.
It’s a dream for now, but it hasn’t stopped me from scoping out how the registers are structured and maintained around the country.
To aid professional and citizen journalists in their endeavours — particularly as major state elections loom — that research is shared below.
Spot any omissions or amendments, or just want to get involved? Get me @jacksongs or follow the BURN bot on Twitter.
New South Wales
Governed by: Constitution (Disclosures by Members) Regulation 1983. Summary information is here.
Publishing: As a parliamentary paper, but only for the Legislative Assembly. Initial disclosures as well as supplementary ones. Note the delays though, for example disclosures from December 31 2017 are not tabled until April 10 2018. Legislative Council disclosures are not available online.
Lodging period:
- Primary return — with three months of starting Parliament
- Ordinary return — every 12 months to June, lodge in October
- Supplementary ordinary return — every 12 months, only covers last six months of year, lodge in March
- Discretionary disclosures — optional, at any time
Format: Scanned PDF, some entries handwritten.
Searchable: No.
Contains street address: Yes.
MPs: Legislative Assembly— 93, Legislative Council — 42
Register size:
- Primary returns (October 13 2015): 800+ pages across two volumes
- Ordinary returns (October 10 2017): 800+ pages across two volumes
- Supplementary returns (April 10 2018): 507
- Per year: 1300+ pages, perhaps 2000 including the Legislative Council
Example:
Victoria
Governed by: Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978.
Publishing: Every few months here.
Lodging period: New members are required to submit a primary return within 30 days of being sworn in as a member. A cumulative summary of declarations provided by Members is also published each year in September.
Format: Typed PDF.
Searchable: Yes.
Contains street address: No.
MPs:128.
Register size: Across multiple PDFs, estimate of 1000 pages per Parliament (four years).
Example:
Queensland
Governed by: Standing orders Chapter 41 and Schedule 2.
Publishing: On the web, as changes occur.
Lodging period: One month from taking seat, one month for changes, at least once per year (in July).
Format: Typed PDF (with embedded text).
Searchable: Yes.
Contains street address: No.
MPs: 93 (only one house).
Register size: 107 pages (August 2018).
Example:
Western Australia
Governed by: Members of Parliament (Financial Interests) Act 1992
Publishing: Annual returns published each October for Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
Lodging period: Within 30 days of starting as an MP and annually in September.
Format: Scanned, mostly handwritten PDFs. Some non-standard addenda.
Searchable: No.
Contains street address: Yes.
MPs: 95.
Register size: Approximately 400 pages.
Example:
South Australia
Governed by: Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1983
Publishing: Combined returns published annually for the House of Assembly here around September. Legislative Council register is not available online. The Adelaide Advertiser has built a interactive visualisation and search for the disclosures of all the state MPs here.
Lodging period: MPs lodge an ordinary return each year by the end of August.
Format: Typed PDF.
Searchable: Yes.
Contains street address: No
MPs: House of Assembly — 47, Legislative Council — 22.
Register size: 28 pages (HoA only).
Example:
Tasmania
Governed by: Parliamentary (Disclosure of Interests) Act 1996
Publishing: Primary returns and amendments combined into a single PDF for each MP by house: Legislative Council and House of Assembly. Published as they are updated — online publishing only recently introduced.
Lodging period: New MPs must lodge a primary return within three months. All MPs lodge an annual return by 1 October.
Format: Scanned, mostly handwritten PDF.
Searchable: No.
Contains street address: New form doesn’t appear to, but I have seen it listed in the previous disclosures.
MPs: 40
Register size: 400 pages approximately when all uploaded.
Example:
Australian Capital Territory
Governed by: Continuing resolution 6.
Publishing: Primary returns and additions are combined for each MLA and published here.
Lodging period: MLAs complete lodge at the beginning of each Assembly and subsequent updates.
Format: Scanned PDFs, some handwritten.
Searchable: No.
Contains street address: No.
MPs: 25
Register size: Approximately 400 pages.
Example:
Northern Territory
Governed by: Legislative Assembly (Disclosure of Interests) Act
Publishing: Published each March here.
Lodging period: New form lodged annually, alterations lodged within 28 days.
Format: Scanned PDF, some handwritten.
Searchable: No.
Contains street address: No.
MPs: 25
Register size: 413 pages.
Example:
