Election 2025: Boroondara City Council uses permits to remove Liberal posters

A council in the teal-held seat of Kooyong is using local permitting rules to remove Liberal Party campaign posters, sparking an accusation the council was imposing an ‘impermissible burden on constitutional freedom’.

Peter Dutton and the Liberal candidate for Aston, Manny Cicchiello, visit a patisserie in Bayswater in the eastern Melbourne seat on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

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A council in the teal-held seat of Kooyong is using local permitting rules to remove Liberal Party campaign posters, sparking a legal threat and an accusation the council was imposing an “impermissible burden on the constitutional freedom of political communication”.

The council said it had brought in the system to ensure “public safety, clear pedestrian access, and amenity”.

A video shared on Wednesday showed council employees ­removing Liberal Party signs – ­including one that said “Monique Ryan, please do not take this sign” – into a car that belonged to Boroondara City Council, whose mayor is a former teal state parliament candidate.

Dr Ryan backed mayor Sophie Torney at the 2022 state election.

The scandal came as Peter Dutton visited a suite of suburban Melbourne seats on Wednesday – Dunkley, Chisholm, Aston and Kooyong – noticeably missing the key teal-held seat of Goldstein. The Coalition has been trying to seize on state Labor’s unpopularity in Victoria, hoping it would buoy their chances in the state.

In Kooyong, lawyers for the Liberal Party to the council claimed the council had put in place a permit system that asks political parties to apply for permission to put up political posters in the week leading up to Saturday’s election.

The notice said it was an “attempt to regulate political advertising” and an “impermissible burden on the implied constitutional freedom of political ­communication” and noted the election was in less than five days, less than the maximum time the permit application advised ­approvals could take.

The concerns notice furthermore said the rule was put in place without any consultation by the council. “The permit purports to impose restrictions upon our client’s ability to display electoral signage and advertising at the early voting centre,” it reads.

“In particular, it purports to allow ‘1 A-frame per political party’. The display of such ­material has hitherto not been ­restricted provided that the ­material complies with the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.”

A council spokesman said council employees removed “non-permitted advertising that presented a risk to pedestrians and road users”.

“Council’s focus is ensuring public safety, clear pedestrian access, and amenity,” the spokesman said. “Each candidate has been issued a permit to display one A-frame sign outside the pre-polling location to achieve these aims. We will consider all applications for more advertising quickly and on their merits.”

The notice disputed the council’s legal authority to make such rules. “The purported restrictions do not on their face appear to apply to participants in the political process other than political parties,” it read. “In view of the above, the restrictions are, at best a poorly thought out and poorly executed attempt to regulate the conduct of political parties in the vicinity of polling booths.

“At worst, they are an attempt to hinder our client campaigning.

“Our client views the council’s conduct as unlawful and an impermissible burden on the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

“Our client does not intend to comply with the restrictions.”

Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson accused the council of selectively enforcing the permitting system just to Liberal Party posters.

“It appears the Teal-run ­Boroondara Council have one rule for the Liberals, and another rule for everyone else,” Senator Paterson said.