Financial Assistance to Opposition Parties

Financial Assistance to Opposition Parties (Short Money and Representative Money) is made available to assist opposition parties to carry out their parliamentary business. Given the nature of opposition work, Short Money and Representative Money can be used for party political purposes. In this context, Parliamentary business may be defined as:

• research associated with front bench duties,
• developing and communicating alternative policies to those of the Government of the day, and
• shadowing the Government's front bench.

It does not include political campaigning and similar partisan activities, political fundraising, membership campaigns or personal or private business of any kind. Further information can be found on the Members Estimate Committee publication page.

Under the resolution, each Opposition Party that receives ‘Short/Representative Money' is required to submit a report from an independent professional auditor and a transparency breakdown of expenditure for publication on the House's website.

Short Money / Representative Money 2023-24 Allocation

Previous year financial assistance to opposition parties information can be found here