Councillor Phillip Martin breaches Local Government Act three times in his campaign material

The Electoral Commissioner has forced North Adelaide councillor Phillip Martin to post a retraction for misleading and inaccurate statements made in a two-page flyer.

North Adelaide councillor Phillip Martin has been found to have breached the Local Government Act three times in a two-page election flyer.

The Electoral Commissioner found Mr Martin made misleading and inaccurate statements when commenting on the Adelaide City Council’s finances in the July flyer.

In a forced retraction on his Facebook page on Friday night, Mr Martin posted a lengthy 2700 word explanation of his statements and the commissioner’s findings.

Mr Martin retracted his statements in their “entirety” and published a statement provided by the commissioner to avoid a penalty of up to $5000.

The commissioner found the following statements were purported to be statements of fact and were inaccurate and misleading:

– In the 4 years since being elected ... Team Adelaide debt is around $50 million in accumulated operating deficits ... This debt will have to be paid, one way or another, by you and me.

– Team Adelaide have actually hidden likely debt from you. Did you know $70 million worth of your assets will be sold off by Team Adelaide – everything from car parks we all rely on to Council housing?

– Our roads, footpaths, bridges and even our traffic lights have been neglected by Team Adelaide … now there’s a massive half a billion dollar asset renewal debt boulder heading towards us.

Councillor Phillip Martin at the Adelaide City Council. Picture: Morgan Sette

Mr Martin distributed the flyer prior to the start of the election campaign to explain why he would not be standing for Lord Mayor, despite previously saying so.

“I fear my trying to keep my statements concise in my letter to ratepayers caused the complainant to misconstrue the intent of my words and I can see the Commissioner has leant on the side of caution,” Mr Martin wrote.

Mr Martin is seeking re-election in the North Ward alongside incumbent Mary Couros and three other candidates.

He told The Advertiser none of the voters in the North Ward received the flyer and were unaware of the context.

“The flyer was distributed to people who do not vote for me, the people of Central and South Ward – without context it meant nothing to the people who are my electors,” he said.

This city council election campaign has included hostile emails from Councillor Anne Moran to other elected members being leaked to the media and Councillor Alexander Hyde being called out for using a personal Facebook account when commenting on council issues.

So far, only 15.45 per cent of ballots in the Adelaide City Council area have been returned.

Ballots must be received by the Electoral Commission before the deadline of 5pm, November 10.