Smart Energy Council forced to can anti-government ‘bin him’ campaign

The Smart Energy Council has had to ditch its ‘bin him’ advertising campaign against the Morrison government, after a stern warning.

John Grimes, Chief Executive, Smart Energy Council speaking at Parliament House in Canberra.

The Smart Energy Council has been forced to ditch its “bin him” advertising campaign against the Morrison government, after the national charity regulator warned it could be in breach of charity laws and risk having its registration cancelled if it continued in the leadup to the federal election.

The “bin sticker” campaign was launched in December and encouraged voters to buy stickers which depict Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce holding coal and accompanied with the slogans “Bin him” and “Chuck them out”.

The stickers were to be placed on household rubbish bins.

But under the guidelines of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, registered charities which are able to claim tax deductible donations are strictly prohibited from “promoting or opposing a political party or a candidate for political office”.

In an email obtained by The Australian, Smart Energy Council chief executive John Grimes said the organisation had “no alternative but to comply” with the regulations otherwise it ran the risk of losing its charity status.

“You may have noticed that we’ve been rather quiet on the bin sticker campaign,” the email reads.

“This is because the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has advised the Smart Energy Council that if we continue to tell people to ‘Chuck Them Out’ or ‘Put Him in the Bin’ we could be in breach of charity laws and lose our registration as a charity.

“We have no alternative but to comply.”

However, the council advised the changes would not stop its election campaign, and it would continue to be a “powerful advocate” for greener energy policies as it directed supporters to a new campaigning platform titled Smart Voting.

“That does not mean our election campaign will stop. We will continue to be a powerful advocate for strong renewable energy and climate action policies.

“As the Smart Energy Council is prevented from continuing the Bin Sticker campaign, we are pleased to advise Smart Voting will take forward those elements of a federal election campaign.”

During a senate estimates hearing last week, ACNC commissioner Gary Johns said advocacy was an important part of the Australian political system and formed part of the mandates of charities.

But Mr Johns advised charities they must not stray into endorsing individual candidates.

“The issue here is when you name a candidate, when it becomes obviously to do with a person then you’re moving away from advocating for or against policy,” Mr Johns said. “That’s an important distinction to make.”

When approached by The Australian for comment, Mr Grimes said: “The Smart Energy Council alway acts in accordance with the requirements of the ACNC, the ATO and the AEC in relation to campaigning and donations.”