Liberals call for inquiry into GetUp!’s Longman campaign

The Liberals’ federal secretariat wants the AEC to investigate GetUp!’s conduct during the Longman by-election campaign.

GetUp! has urged voters to “not trust” Liberal Trevor Ruthenberg. Picture: AAP

The Liberal Party’s federal secretariat wants the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate GetUp!’s conduct during the Longman by-election campaign, claiming the activist group followed Labor’s local script.

Senior party sources say Liberal director Andrew Hirst will ask the AEC to include today’s by-election in its wider assessment of whether GetUp! should be treated as an ­“associated entity” of Labor, or the Greens. The claim that GetUp! pretends to be independent while co-ordinating its campaigning at election time to match mainly Labor’s priorities is fiercely disputed by the left-leaning group.

But the Liberal head office has seized on the top campaign issues pursued by GetUp! in Longman — urging voters to reject funding cuts to Caboolture hospital and the local high school — as evidence GetUp! is a front for Labor and, to a lesser extent, the Greens.

The Weekend Australian understands Mr Hirst will challenge why GetUp!’s focus mirrored Labor’s in Longman when health and education did not figure among the top five issues in a 2018 “vision survey” of GetUp! members. GetUp!’s annual surveys typically show its members’ prime interests are climate change, renewable energy, asylum-seekers and protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

The AEC is reviewing whether GetUp! should be permitted to keep its non-aligned status. GetUp! says it relies on what its members want to pick as campaign issues, and its approach in Longman and other by-elections today was informed by surveys of political parties’ policies. The organisation admits other factors were involved: “We’ve combined that information with insights from campaign partners, further research and recent party announcements.”

A further Liberals complaint is GetUp! having urged Longman locals to “vote against the LNP’s corporate handout to big business” when this issue did not feature in the top 20 for the group’s 2018 membership survey — but coincidentally did feature prominently in Bill Shorten’s Labor campaign.

GetUp!’s Longman how-to-vote card gives voters a choice of Labor or Greens for their No 1 vote, and marks the Liberals down. The Liberals’ party organisation claims GetUp!’s by-election campaigning was a rerun of its alleged “front” for Labor in the 2016 election. Greens preferences generally flow back to Labor.

GetUp! has been accused of following Labor by urging a vote in 2016 against Coalition plans to privatise Medicare and cut hospital funding. Labor’s campaign was later discredited because the Coalition had no plan to privatise Medicare, and its hospital funding was little different to the Turnbull government’s.

GetUp! posted campaign material on Facebook this week urging voters to “not trust” Liberal candidate Trevor Ruthenberg, widely criticised for his incorrect claim about a defence medal awarded to him.

Past and present Labor figures have GetUp! links, including Mr Shorten. He was a board member before entering parliament.

Asked about the Liberals’ claims and referral to the AEC, a GetUp! spokesperson said the group was “in touch” with the AEC on its Longman and Mayo campaigns.