Power, Penalties and Fairness: When One Post Counts Once

The High Court in Laming v Electoral Commissioner [2025] HCA 31 held that an unauthorised electoral communication posted online constitutes a single contravention when it is disseminated to the public under s 321D of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. The Court rejected an approach that multiplied penalties with each view of the post, noting that dissemination occurs when material is made available to the public, not each time it is opened. This matters for clients because digital conduct is increasingly central to regulatory disputes, and cost exposure often depends on how legislation treats online behaviour. When penalty risk turns on statutory interpretation rather than platform metrics, cost-alignment (one-path funding) helps clients fund only the pathway they ultimately take, rather than paying for both settlement work and litigation preparation at once.