Braddon MP Gavin Pearce not amused as election signs defaced with cartoon stickers

A Tasmanian MP has called out vandals who defaced his election signs with specifically designed and printed stickers as the campaign heats up. SEE THE PICTURES >>

SPECIALLY designed and printed stickers - in a Porky Pig cartoon style - have been stuck on Braddon MP Gavin Pearce’s election signs as the campaign heats up.

Mr Pearce found the “Porky Pearce Porky Pies” stickers on his signs last week.

He took to social media to call out those who defaced the signs.

“Surely the other side has better things to do with their time than vandalism,” he said.

“They’ve even put in the extra time and effort to make sure they’re near impossible to get off.

A real shame.

“Here I was hoping the upcoming election would be about policy, track record and who had the best vision for our region.

“I guess not.”

Mr Pearce then thanked the people of Braddon for the support shown.

“G’day guys, pretty blown away by the support here- you’re all aces in my book.” Mr Pearce said on his Facebook page.

He even received support from opposition camps with Labor candidate Chris Lynch calling out the vandalism.

“I stand with you and our community in condemning this vandalism - this behaviour is unacceptable. I can assure you this is not coming from my campaign and we would never condone these actions,” Mr Lynch said.

It is not the first time the election signs in Braddon have been vandalised and other candidates are dealing with the problem in other electorates..

In 2016, signs put up by Braddon candidate Brett Whiteley were defaced by a “local artist” to depict the sitting member in a “gimp”, or bondage, mask.

‘Billionaire Bullsh*t’: Clive Palmer mocked in ad blitz across Tassie

Giant billboards describing the United Australia Party’s advertising as “billionaire bullsh*t” will be plastered across Tasmania as part of a counter-advertising blitz.

The $25,000 campaign was orchestrated by The Local Party in response to Clive Palmer and the United Australia Party’s own ubiquitous advertising push.

Local Party senate candidate Leanne Minshull said she was sick of seeing what she described as “obnoxious” yellow ads.

Ms Minshull said she took the view that Mr Palmer wouldn’t be able to spend so much on advertising if the government taxed him more.

“We’re trying to fight back against Clive Palmer. He’s monopolising our billboards, our newspapers, our digital media,” Ms Minshull said.

“We had a scour of the state and found a few billboards that were left and we bought them.”

Palmer pisstake

Next week they will erect a billboard along the Brooker Highway, a digital sign above the Winston pub, and two billboards in Northern Tasmania.

They will also be asking for members of the public to come up with their own messages to Clive Palmer they’d like to plaster on these billboards.

Local Party Franklin candidate Anna Bateman said was irritated by the UAP’s spam text messages and their endless “FREEDOM” billboards.

Ms Batemand said she believed the UAP cared more about “political capital” than the freedom of Tasmanian citizens.

“We want to push back on Clive’s bullshit, frankly,” Ms Bateman said.

The Mercury reached out to the United Australia Party and Clive Palmer for a response.

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