AEC rejects Chinese-language sign claim, saying it didn’t sway voters

Oliver Yates fails in push that said the use of purple Chinese language signs was misleading.

The controversial sign, left, and part of the AEC corflute which are the basis of failed Independent candidate Oliver Yates’, right, complaint. Pictures: Supplied/News Corp

The Australian Electoral Commission has rejected a push by failed Independent candidate Oliver Yates to say the use of purple, Chinese language signs in the Melbourne seats of Kooyong and Chisholm was misleading.

The AEC has asked the federal court to throw out both cases, saying Mr Yates fails to set out the basis on which it might be concluded that electors able to read the signs cast their votes in a manner different from what they had previously intended.

“The petition fails to set out at all, let alone with sufficient particularity, any facts or matters on the basis of which it might be concluded that it was likely that on polling day, electors able to read Chinese characters, upon seeing and reading the corflute, cast their vote in a manner different from what they had previously intended,” the AEC writes in court filings.

Mr Frydenberg is being challenged by Mr Yates, who ran against him in the seat of Kooyong. Mr Yates only won 8.98 per cent of the primary vote in Kooyong, compared to the Treasurer’s 49 per cent.

Mr Frydenberg and Ms Liu have claimed the signs “intended” to say “make your vote count, put a one next to the Liberal Party candidate”.

But the signs, which were in Australian Electoral Commission colours, told voters that “the correct voting method” was to put a one next to the Liberal candidate.

Mr Frydenberg is facing a separate High Court challenge over his eligibility to sit in parliament, with Kooyong resident Michael Staindl accusing him of possibly holding dual citizenship via his mother, a Holocaust survivor.

But the Treasurer has denied he had any issues regarding his position in parliament.