Electoral Commission counting fault led to ad spending error for HCC candidate

The Tasmanian Electoral Commission has apologised to a Hobart City Council candidate for miscalculating his total advertising costs.

THE Tasmanian Electoral Commission has apologised to Hobart City Council candidate Robin Allardice for miscalculating his total advertising costs.

Speaking to the Mercury yesterday, Mr Allardice, who campaigned under the Liveable Hobart Group ticket, said he personally spent only about $4500 on his October campaign.

This included his contribution to the Liveable Hobart ticket, which was about $2500.

Robin Allardice.

But under Tasmanian Electoral Commission rules relating to joint electoral advertising, all campaign candidates involved are required to declare the total expense of any advertisements in their electoral group, irrespective of whether or not that expenditure also promoted another candidate.

On Wednesday, the Commission released revised figures showing Mr Allardice’s total reportable advertising cost was $14,916, well below the $16,000 spending cap and not the $16,062 it initially reported.

Deputy Electoral Commissioner Ngaire Edwards confirmed Mr Allardice did not exceed the advertising limit.

“Mr Allardice quite properly submitted an amended return in late November after realising that he had omitted one invoice from his original return,” Ms Edwards said. “The amount of this invoice was inadvertently added twice to Mr Allardice’s return.

“This error has now been corrected and the TEC has apologised to Mr Allardice for any embarrassment caused.”