Victorians should find it easier to identify who is responsible for election advertising under updated authorisation requirements now in effect across the state.
The Victorian Electoral Commission has revised its official determination covering electoral material, providing clearer guidance about who must include an authorisation statement and how the responsible person or organisation must be identified.
The changes apply as political activity intensifies ahead of Victoria’s 2026 state election.
Making Political Messages Easier to Trace
Authorisation statements are the often-small lines appearing on political advertisements, flyers, signs and digital communications identifying who is responsible for publishing them.
Their purpose is straightforward: voters should be able to determine where an election-related message originated before deciding how much confidence to place in it.
Victorian Electoral Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said the updated rules strengthened that transparency.
“Authorisation requirements help ensure Victorians know who is responsible for electoral material,” Mr Bluemmel said.
“The updated determination provides clearer guidance for political participants and improves transparency by making it easier for voters to identify the people and organisations behind election-related communications.”
The complete authorisation rules are contained in VEC Determination 010-2026.
Who Must Authorise Electoral Material?
The revised determination reflects recent amendments to Victoria’s electoral laws specifying the people and organisations required to authorise their electoral material.
Regulated participants include:
- Registered political parties
- Candidates and groups of candidates
- Elected members
- Associated entities
- Third-party campaigners
- Certain political donors required to lodge disclosure returns
These entities must now authorise relevant material in their own name. A registered political party, for example, should identify the party itself rather than allowing responsibility for the communication to remain obscure behind an individual or loosely described campaign organisation.
The VEC says this should make it easier for voters to recognise who produced and distributed a political message.
The Rules Extend Beyond Printed Flyers
Electoral material is no longer confined to pamphlets pushed into letterboxes or posters attached to power poles.
The authorisation requirements can apply to printed, digital and online communications, including:
- Political advertisements
- Flyers, handbills, notices and signs
- Websites
- Social media posts and profiles
- Paid and unpaid online advertising
- Certain emails, text messages and electronic communications
- How-to-vote cards
The central question is whether the communication contains electoral matter intended or likely to influence voting in an election.
The VEC’s state election authorisation guide provides examples of material that does and does not require authorisation.
A Street Address Is Still Required
Electoral material requiring authorisation must continue to display a geographical address—typically a street address accompanied by its suburb or locality.
A post office box or email address cannot be substituted for the required physical address.
Recent amendments have removed the general requirement to include printer details on ordinary electoral material. However, printer information is still required on how-to-vote cards, whether printed or electronic.
Campaigners and publishers therefore need to distinguish between the ordinary authorisation rules and the additional requirements applying specifically to how-to-vote material.
Transitional Arrangements for Existing Material
As a practical transition, electoral material produced before Friday 21 August 2026 may continue to be used without being reprinted or amended to include the newly prescribed name of the responsible entity.
New material produced after that date should follow the updated determination.
The VEC says its other revised determinations address matters including administrative expenditure, policy-development expenditure, audit certificates, political funding and disclosure requirements, and signage at voting centres.
Changes Follow a Major Legal Disruption
The latest determination follows a complicated period for Victoria’s electoral laws.
In April 2026, the High Court delivered its decision in Hopper v Victoria, finding aspects of Victoria’s political donations framework constitutionally invalid.
The Victorian Parliament subsequently passed legislation reinstating Part 12 of the Electoral Act 2002, with retrospective effect intended to restore many of the funding, disclosure and regulatory obligations affected by the decision.
Further electoral amendments commenced on 19 August 2026. Among other changes, the legislation removed group voting tickets for Victoria’s Legislative Council and clarified earlier political finance reforms.
The VEC has published an overview of the 2026 Electoral Act amendments.
Why Authorisation Matters
Political communication is a legitimate and essential part of democratic life. Voters, candidates, community organisations and publishers must remain free to discuss policies, criticise governments and advocate for change.
Transparency does not prevent that debate. It allows voters to assess the source as well as the message.
As campaigns spread across websites, social media, targeted advertising, email and mobile communications, a clearly visible authorisation statement provides a basic but important public safeguard: whoever wants to influence an election should be prepared to say who they are.
Further information is available from the Victorian Electoral Commission.
