Former MP Craig Kelly blasts ‘vindictive’ AEC ‘witch hunt’

An outspoken former MP claims he was targeted by the Australian Electoral Commission in a malicious “witch hunt”.

Firebrand politician Craig Kelly claims he was targeted by the Australian Electoral Commission in a malicious “witch hunt” after he was critical of the agency’s conduct.

The AEC took legal action against the former United Party Australia leader over his campaign materials for last year’s federal election.

The regulator alleged the authorisation displayed on dozens of his posters, sandwich boards, and corflutes in the lead-up to the May 2022 poll was too small to read at a viewing distance.

The authorisation line outlines who approved the political message and provides their address to ensure accountability, transparency, and traceability.

Former MP Craig Kelly slammed the AEC for taking him to court over the font size of his campaign posters. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gaye Gerard

The court was told Mr Kelly’s authorisation line was initially printed in size eight font at the bottom of the signs, but it was increased to size 24 font after he was notified of the complaint.

On Thursday, Justice Steven Rares determined the font was “reasonably prominent” and dismissed the proceedings.

He ordered the AEC to pay the legal costs for Mr Kelly, who estimated the failed prosecution would cost taxpayers a hefty six-figure sum.

Outside the Federal Court, the former Hughes MP told NCA NewsWire the result had been “expected”.

“This was an absolute disgrace that the AEC took this to court to start with,” he said.

“They have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money on a completely frivolous case arguing over a font size.”

The font in the left hand corner is the size eight authorisation line in contention.

He said the case was ‘frivolous’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Mr Kelly said that the size of his posters’ authorisation line was consistent with industry standards and in line with signs displayed by “all politicians” during the 2022 federal election.

“(The AEC) took me basically as a scapegoat,” he said.

“It was a witch hunt and now you see they’ve been called out today.”

Mr Kelly said he had been targeted because he had been vocal in his criticism of the AEC’s vaccine mandate policy and its conduct throughout the federal election.

The former Liberal politician was emphatic as he called on the head of the AEC to resign from his position over the “frivolous” lawsuit.

“It was a vindictive, malicious, and vexatious prosecution by the AEC and someone at the AEC has to be held responsible for this,” he said.

“The loser today is the Australian taxpayer because they’re going to be up for hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs in this case that was completely unnecessary.”

The former MP posed on social media in front of posters in his electorate ahead of the election.

When he was informed of the problem with his campaign materials, Mr Kelly hastily ordered hundreds of new signs and stickers to cover the authorisations that had been deemed too small.

However, the court heard the AEC refused to tell him the locations of the offending signs so he was unable to remove them or rectify the issue with larger print stickers.

Justice Rares said it was “difficult to understand” the regulator’s reticence to answer the repeated requests, given the seriousness of their allegations.

“Not informing a candidate or party of the location of allegedly contravening conduct was unjustifiable and unreasonable,” he said.

“Yet this appeared to have been a deliberate position that the Commission took in its dealings with Mr Kelly in May 2022 in the lead up to polling day.”

Mr Kelly was the leader of the United Party of Australia before he was ousted. Picture: NCA NewsWire, Monique Harmer

A statement from the AEC acknowledged the Federal Court decision.

“As with all court cases, it will take time to review the detailed reasons for the judgement,” the statement read.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment further without having considered the reasons in their entirety.”

Mr Kelly was ousted from parliament following last year’s federal election in which he failed to retain Hughes.

He had held the seat for more than a decade after being elected as a Liberal Party member in 2010.