Gilmore teal Kate Dezarnaulds claims Kiama, Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla Councils illegally removing campaign signs

An independent candidate for Australia’s tightest seat has accused three South Coast councils of unlawfully removing her election signs, claiming the moves amount to political interference.

It was a rainy pre poll day one in Batemans Bay. Picture: Tom McGann

The independent candidate for Australia’s tightest seat has accused regional councils of “unlawfully” tearing down her campaign signs, despite the organisations claiming her team violated legislation.

Gilmore independent candidate Kate Dezarnaulds’ campaign alleges rangers from Kiama, Shoalhaven, and Eurobodalla council have been removing her election signs from major town centres without legal grounds.

The claims arise after rangers were reportedly seen taking down her signage from public land.

Campaign director Will Davies accused the councils of using ratepayer resources to “support political agendas”, and said the situation was “taking up huge amounts of rangers’ time”.

“We’re paying rates and we want to know if they’re being used for the right purposes,” he said.

Businesswoman Kate Dezarnaulds believes Gilmore can fall into the hands of the independents. Picture: Tom McGann

The Dezarnaulds campaign emailed all three councils, arguing they had “no lawful basis” to remove the signs.

“Any action by council that disproportionately burdens the implied freedom of political communication during an election period risks being unlawful,” the email stated.

But, Kiama Council’s planning, environment and communications director, Ed Paterson, said his organisation’s policy – which states written consent must be acquired by council to place signs in public places – remained unchanged.

“[Ms Dezarnaulds’ campaign] continues to blatantly ignore the advice and policy position of Kiama Municipal Council, continually installing illegal signage on public lands,” he said.

Shoalhaven Council also confirmed some of Ms Dezarnaulds’ signs were being removed following public complaints.

“Council has only seized signs observed in breaching the legislation,” a spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, Eurobodalla Council said it issued compliance warnings to Ms Dezarnaulds’ campaign team, but revealed recent signs were allowed to remain.

The signage spat comes days after The Daily Telegraph revealed a leaked email in which Ms Dezarnaulds described Berry – her hometown and a tourist drawcard in Gilmore – as a “miserable, backwards retirement village”.

She has since said she was “frustrated” when writing the email in May last year, and admitted her words were “poorly chosen”.

Ms Dezarnaulds also said her experience as a business owner and former Berry Business Chamber president would help her serve as Gilmore’s independent MP, if elected on May 3.

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