Liberals’ Chinese posters in Chisholm ‘were authorised’

Gaffe-prone Libs’ candidate defends Chinese signs bearing striking resemblance to AEC’s.

A Liberal Party authorised Mandarin-language sign, left, next to an official AEC polling sign in Chisholm. Picture: Twitter

Mandarin-language election signs in Melbourne, instructing Chinese voters how to vote Liberal, have been criticised as a “massive rort” and misleading.

But the signs, appearing in the marginal seat of Chisholm, in Melbourne’s east, have been defended by the Liberals’ candidate Gladys Liu, who says they have been given official approval for use.

Luke Hilakari, the Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary, tweeted an image of the posters, claiming they had the same font and colours as official voting information from the Australian Electoral Commission.

He said the posters read “the correct way to vote is to put a number 1 next to the Liberals and number every other box”, and appear to be written like an official AEC instruction to voters.

“This is a rort. The Libs are trying to trick Chinese voters. Morrison’s Libs should never have approved these signs,” he tweeted on Saturday.

AEC spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth said the posters did not need to be taken down as they were properly authorised and no laws had been breached.

“We don’t own the colour purple, and it’s not possible to do that. They just need to be appropriately authorised, which they are,” Ekin-Smyth.

“While clearly the AEC would prefer no-one uses purple and (makes posters) to look like an AEC (poster), people can make posters so long as they are authorised appropriately.

“My understanding is that it meets the requirements of the Act. No law has been breached.”

Calling them “good” signs, Ms Liu told Sky News: “The sign has been approved and authorised by the state director of the Liberal Party.

“I think that this is a good sign to have to inform people to vote.”

Bill Shorten said he had not heard about the incident.

“Always look at who benefits from the dirty tricks and that generally is the culprit, isn’t it?” he said.

A Labor spokesperson said the party had lodged an official complaint with the AEC.

“This is a new low - a pathetic and dirty attempt to deceive voters because the Liberals have no policy to talk about,” they said.

Chisholm is notionally Liberal, with a 3.4 per cent margin but sources from both major parties have previously told The Australian they expect Labor to win it following a gaffe-prone campaign from Ms Liu, who was last week refused to condemn her sister after she labelled Labor’s candidate a “mental retard and idiot” on the Chinese social media forum WeChat.

Ms Liu’s sister, Connie Liu, commented on a video by Labor candidate Jennifer Yang, writing in Mandarin: “Yang nodded in the video, laughing like a mental ­retard and idiot. Disgusting!”

Gladys Liu was also caught twice claiming public debates that she is an AFL multicultural ambassador, despite resigning from the role a year ago.

She has also defended comments she made in 2016 that Chinese Australians tell her they do not want the next generation “to be destroyed … [by] same-sex, transgender, intergender, all this rubbish.”

— with Rachel Baxendale