Zali Steggall: Australian Electoral Commission investigates counterfeit corflutes

Fake election posters branding independent Zali Steggall as a member of the Greens have left the sitting northern beaches MP seeing red.

Fake election posters branding independent Zali Steggall as a member of the Greens have left the sitting northern beaches MP seeing red.

Neutral Bay, The Spit, Forestville and Manly are among the suburbs where counterfeit corflutes appeared overnight in the Warringah electorate.

Ms Steggall, who is running against a field of six candidates in the seat, said the posters were not authorised and has called on anyone with security footage of the potential culprits or to pass on the information.

The posters have also been referred to the Australian Electoral Commission which confirmed the posters lacked authorisation.

Kristyn Glanville, who is running as a Greens candidate for the election, said the party had no involvement in the posters.

A photo of one of the posters at The Spit.

“I think whoever did it had malicious intent to perhaps deter people from voting for Zali, or potentially encouraging Greens voters to instead vote for Zali. I suspect it’s the former,” she said.

“I think it’s very confusing and it’s unfortunate that rather than discussing politics, people are instead focusing on producing fake posters.”

🙏They are unauthorised & have been reported. If anyone has security footage around their street/fences, please let us know. No wonder the Govt & Scott Morrison didn’t want to legislate truth in political advertising. We need my Stop the Lies bill. #stopthelies#fearandsmear

— 🌏 Zali Steggall MP (@zalisteggall) May 5, 2022

It comes as Ms Steggall is facing claims her independent fundraising arm may have broken the same donation transparency laws she voted against.

The leading climate-focused crossbench candidate recently launched her bid for a second term in federal parliament at the upcoming election with a vow to continue to be “a very loud voice in Canberra”.

Ms Steggall snatched the former blue-ribbon seat away from veteran Liberal MP and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2019 after a ground breaking campaign that she said “turned Warringah turquoise”.

The sitting MP said she and her team were “just so committed to keeping Warringah independent” at the campaign launch at The Steyne Hotel in Manly last month, and climate change at number one on her “to do” list.