Marion mayor Kris Hanna fined for publishing inaccurate election material
Marion Mayor Kris Hanna has been sentenced in court for publishing council elections material he describes as a “careless mistake” and one he has paid a “heavy price” for.
West & Beaches
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Marion Mayor Kris Hanna has been fined $600 for producing inaccurate statements in a flyer during the 2018 local government election.
Mr Hanna letterboxed 24,000 flyers to Marion Council residents that contained false information regarding pay increases for members of the Local Government Association.
The flyers incorrectly claimed the pay increase for the board was $40,000, rather than $4000.
He was sentenced in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday after earlier this month pleading guilty to publishing electoral material containing inaccurate statements.
“The fact is that the non-executive board member fees were increased by a multiple of seven times … but the problem was I put an extra zero in the figure that I was using,” Mr Hanna said.
“It was a careless mistake and I’ve paid a heavy price for it and I am glad that it’s finished.”
The court heard the publication had no impact on the election outcome, in which Mr Hanna received more than 9000 votes.
Outside court, Mr Hanna said his experience could serve as a lesson to politicians at all levels of government.
“Perhaps through this difficult situation that I’ve gone through where I’ve been dragged through the courts … there is a lesson there for state politicians, federal politicians and members in local government you really do need to be very careful,” he said.
Magistrate Benjamin Sale praised Mr Hanna’s decades of service to the community in both the House of Assembly and Marion Council.
“We’re dealing with a man who spent decades of his professional life as a politician and this is the first time he comes before any court, that’s of significance in my mind,” he said.
“I don’t know how many leaflets, flyers, tweets, Facebook updates, statements to the media, Mr Hanna would have made over his career as a politician.
“It’s a bit like – dare I say it – a taxi driver who’s never had a speeding fine after 20 or 30 years of driving on the roads of South Australia.”
No conviction was recorded.
Mr Hanna spent 13 years as a state MP for the former southern suburbs seat of Mitchell before he moved into local government.
He was first elected to parliament as a member of the Labor Party, then joined the Greens and eventually sat as an independent.
He unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for Nick Xenophon’s SA Best party at the March 2018 State election, before he was re-elected as Marion mayor in November of that year.