NT Goyder MLA Andrew Mackay kicked out of early voting station for wearing party shirt
A backbencher was told to leave an early voting station because he was wearing a shirt ‘clearly identifying’ the CLP – a claim he denies. HAVE YOUR SAY.
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A Country Liberal backbencher has got into a tiff with Australian Electoral Commission staff attempting to kick him out of an early voting centre for wearing a party shirt in an area where campaigning material is banned.
One witness to the incident said Goyder MLA Andrew Mackay was immediately noticed by AEC staff when he walked into the Coolalinga voting centre wearing his CLP shirt on Tuesday morning.
The shirt was printed in CLP colours with the text “Andrew Mackay, MLA for Goyder”, however did not explicitly include the party name or logo.
The witness, who was affiliated with a different party, said staff stopped Mr Mackay and told him his shirt breached the electoral rules.
“He was waving his arms around, and saying ‘I just want to vote, I just want to vote’,” the witness said.
“He wasn’t happy. It all seemed pretty childish for an elected representative.
“The AEC staff ordered him out of there, the whole thing only lasted for a minute, minute and a half. The AEC staff were onto it straight away.”
In a statement the AEC said a man entered a polling place in a “polo shirt which was clearly advertising the CLP”.
“The officer in charge asked him to turn the shirt inside out or to cover up.
“He objected, asked for escalation of the issue or to see a decision in writing and ultimately left the venue.
“There is a law about no campaigning able to occur within 6m to the entrance of a polling venue and a campaign shirt would fall into this space.
“We’re reasonable with people who don’t have the ability to cover up, change or come back but the law is the law.”
Mr Mackay argued that he was simply wearing “a Territory flag shirt with my name on it”.
“It doesn’t any CLP branding,” he said.
“I just wanted to vote like any Territorian.
“The AEC staff were professional, I asked them to record their decision, I believed I wasn’t breaching any rules.
“I went back and got a different shirt and voted 20 minutes later, no big deal.”
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