AEC ruling a victory over far right, activist group GetUp declares

The Australian Electoral Commission has declared the left-wing activist group had no association with Labor or the Greens.

The AEC has written to Get Up’s Paul Oosting, informing him that they’d ruled the activist group was not an associated entity of Labor or the Greens.

GetUp has claimed victory over “far-right politicians” after the Australian Electoral Commission declared the left-wing activist group had no association with Labor or the Greens.

In a blow to the Coalition ahead of the federal election, AEC assistant commissioner Tim Courtney said there was “insufficient evidence” GetUp was an associated entity of a political party.

GetUp national director Paul Oosting said it was a “landmark decision” that puts “everyday people in our democracy”.

“The Australian Electoral Commission has strongly rejected the push by the hard-Right faction of the Coalition to shut everyday people out of politics,” Mr Oosting said on Monday.

“The hard Right forced this expensive, two-year investigation on the GetUp movement, in the hope it would silence all one million of us. But it has done ­exactly the opposite. You don’t make our democracy stronger by penalising a grassroots organisation for talking to voters.”

GetUp will target Liberal politicians at the May poll, including supporting independent candidates Zali Steggall, Julia Banks and Oliver Yates, who are running against prominent government MPs Tony Abbott, Greg Hunt and Josh Frydenberg.

The left-wing group also has its eyes set on unseating Peter Dutton in the Queensland seat of Dickson and Kevin Andrews in the Victorian seat of Menzies.

It is the third time the AEC has cleared GetUp of being an associated entity, after investigations in 2005 and 2010.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz said he would continue to pursue GetUp’s “dubious, disappointing and hypocritical activities”.

“GetUp is a highly partisan extreme left-wing front, established by Bill Shorten and trade union funds, together with foreign support, it continues to ­attack the Liberal Party and Liberal parliamentarians,” Senator Abetz said.

“The AEC’s decision following the investigation that they started of their own accord is ­indicative of the AEC’s genuine concerns and the technical ­nature of the Electoral Act which requires associated entities to be directly associated to an individual political party — not just fellow travelling left-wing activists.”

Special Minister of State Alex Hawke played down the decision, declaring the government had passed laws that require political campaigning groups to disclose their donors.

“If political campaigners like GetUp want to act like a political party, they will be treated like one under the new regime,” Mr Hawke said.

The AEC investigated GetUp after Liberal MP Ben Morton raised concern about its campaign materials distributed during the 2016 election on the issues of climate change and Medicare. The AEC concluded that an organisation advocating an agenda on “one side of the political spectrum: did not mean it was operating for the benefit of a political party’’.