[Greens-Media] Local elections marred by Independents pretending to be Liberals

[David Shoebridge]

Voters are being actively mislead by independent candidates in two separate
western Sydney local council elections who are unlawfully branding
themselves as "Independent Liberals" and using clear Liberal Party branding
despite not being endorsed by the Liberal Party.


See reporting in the SMH
http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/local-election-candidates-a-little-liberal-with-the-facts-20120827-24wna.html


"This messaging is illegal and is fairly clearly intended to portray to
voters that these candidates are supported by the Liberal party.



"Candidates who go out of their way to mislead voters about their party
endorsement before the election should face the real threat of being thrown
off the ballot.



"It is a real concern that, to date, these kinds of deliberately misleading
promotional materials have produced little more than a slap on the wrists
from returning officers.


"An election campaign is meant to be a public contest where voters are
informed about what candidates stand for, not tricked by this style of
branding.

"The Liberal Party needs to stand up to these rogue members and publicly
disown them.

"By staying silent the Liberal Party machine is allowing voters to be
mislead.

"Phrases such as "Liberate Fairfield", "Locals with Liberal Values" and
"Independent Liberals" together with pictures of John Howard on campaign
materials would lead most local residents to believe, wrongly, that these
are Liberal Party candidates," Mr Shoebridge said.

The two elections where this style of misleading campaigning has been
identified are for Penrith and Fairfield councils and the candidates in
both areas face potential legal challenges if they are elected using
unlawful methods.



Media Contact: 0408 113 952
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