Kristina Keneally’s flailing Fowler campaign cops another hit

In a blow to Kristina Keneally’s flailing campaign in Fowler, the Australian Electoral Commission has ordered her to remove a misleading poster.

In a blow to Kristina Keneally’s flailing campaign in Fowler, the Australian Electoral Commission has ordered her to remove a misleading poster which asserts that her popular independent rival, Dai Le, is a Liberal.

The AEC sent a stern legal letter to Keneally’s campaign on Thursday warning of potential police action if they did not immediately remove “a social media post, physical poster (corflute) and a text message” falsely claiming Le is allied with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The letter said the AEC considers the campaign material to be potentially in breach of Section 329 of the Electoral Act which prohibits anything likely to mislead or deceive voters when casting a vote.

But at 11.18am Friday, at least a day after initial warnings from the AEC to the campaign, corflutes depicting photoshopped photographs of Le and the PM were still displayed prominently at pre polls in the electorate, according to timestamped photographs seen by the Sunday Telegraph.

The AEC sent a stern legal letter to Keneally’s campaign on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Keneally told The Telegraph earlier that it was her “understanding” that all posters had been removed.

In Liverpool, an AEC official was spotted by a volunteer for Le’s campaign on Thursday morning photographing one of the offending posters, which bears the title “Dai Le and Scott Morrison. Don’t risk a Liberal government.”

Le branded the poster a “blatant lie”.

Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone, a Labor politician turned independent effectively running on a joint ticket with Le, said their campaign will sue Keneally if the election result is close, with the aim of forcing a by-election.

“Half the electorate has already voted with the lie of Keneally telling people Dai Le is a Liberal,” he said.

“Dai is a true independent, has been for many years.

“If the election result is close, we will be looking at legal action, given the dirtiest campaign our community has ever seen and the deliberate lies to the community using texts and posters to provide false information to residents”.

Independent candidate for Fowler Dai Le. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The once safe western Sydney seat, which Labor holds with a 14 percent margin, has been beset by claims of dirty tricks and rancour, as support surges for Le against the “blow-in”, former Senator Keneally, who only moved from her waterfront home on Scotland Island to a rented flat in Liverpool in November.

Le’s corflutes across the electorate have been defaced, and her face cut out of the posters, with writing in Vietnamese accusing her of being an “evil killer” and a “communist”.

The AEC warning to the campaign signals that the contest may continue beyond election day.

In the letter, Australian Government Solicitor Abigail Cooper tells Keneally’s lawyer Robert Macaulay, from Mascot firm Pryor Tzannes & Wallis, that the AEC is considering referring the campaign to the Australian Federal Police for investigation over “a range of matters during the course of the election that may warrant referral by the AEC to the AFP. The AEC’s consideration of those matters will continue over the coming weeks.”

Originally published as Kristina Keneally’s flailing Fowler campaign cops another hit