SA election: Labor slammed for ‘misleading’ ambos ad

SA Labor has been told to pull an advertisement that overstated problems with the state’s ambulance system.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas savaged the inaccurate ad and said Labor had behaved badly by refusing to apologise for the content. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

South Australian Labor will go to the polls having profited from an ambulance attack advertisement that was ruled inaccurate by the state’s Electoral Commissioner.

The ALP’s “Ash the ambo” ­advertisement has been at the heart of the opposition’s attacks on the Marshall government over ­ambulance ramping and response times.

But the election umpire, Mick Sherry, ruled the party had falsely claimed that ramping was worse than it had ever been, demanding it be taken down.

However, the ruling, released to the Liberal Party, came after Wednesday night’s TV and radio ad blackout, and only had a ­material impact on the ALP’s online campaign.

According to the Liberals, Mr Sherry found: “The statement ‘ramping is worse than ever’ is ­misleading and inaccurate to a material extent in that a ­reasonable reader would be significantly and substantially misled by the statement and thus contravenes section 113 of the Electoral Act 1985.”

Labor leader Peter Malinauskas reportedly said the ad was pulled at 8.30am on Friday. However, the government accused the ALP of failing to apologise for its content.

Ramping of ambulances occurs when patients are taken to hospital emergency but cannot be ­unloaded because there is insufficient space or staff to deal with the sick or injured.

Labor has hammered the ramping issue to great effect during the campaign, tying it in with the broader health debate and the pandemic.

The most recent data states that ramping issues have fallen nearly 50 per cent since October last year, which was just before South Australia was reopened to the world.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas savaged the inaccurate ad and said Labor had behaved badly by refusing to apologise for the content.

“It is a despicable and direct breach of the ruling of the independent electoral umpire for Labor not to have issued a retraction of their advertising, which they knew contained lies,” Mr Lucas said.

“It’s an absolute disgrace that Labor is perpetuating lies to try to trick voters to get Mr Malinauskas elected.”

While the decision is embarrassing for Labor, the damage may already have been done. Mr ­Sherry did not comment.

Health in the time of the coronavirus has been a central issue in the campaign, with Labor polling showing significant concern among voters about the health and ambulance systems.

Ramping delays are common across Australia, particularly during the pandemic.

In many ways, ramping has ­become the focal point for Labor’s attacks, amid a small number of deaths allegedly caused by delays and anger on the ground about the SA reopening.

In the ad, “Ash” says: “Lives are at risk and Steven Marshall isn’t doing enough.

“At the coming election vote Labor like your life depends on it.”

The South Australian ambulance union has been at one with the ALP, running its own campaign on the issue in the same manner as in Victoria in 2014.

That 2014 campaign contributed to Labor’s win after just a term in the political wilderness.

Labor’s national creative boss for the ALP campaign had no ­involvement with the “Ash the ambo” advertisement, having worked last year for the ambulance union in SA and not Labor specifically.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese strongly indicated on Friday that Labor would inject more money into health.

“What we know is that the last time we were in government we put more money into the hospital system,” he said in a radio interview on FIVEaa.

“And I think one of the lessons about the pandemic is that if you don’t get health outcomes right then you can’t get the economic outcomes right.

“And that’s why it’s such a strong part of our campaign for the overall theme that we are running on – a better future.”