Labor’s bald head ad draws ire of Liberal Party

The premier has been labelled “precious Pete” after the Liberal Party complained about a Labor ad featuring a bald-headed man.

THE image of a bald-headed man in a Labor Facebook advertisement has raised the hackles of the Liberal Party.

And a complaint about it forced the Labor Party to remove it.

Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Andrew Hawkey wrote to the Labor Party saying the back of the head in the Facebook ad may have breached section 196 of the Electoral Act, which states that a person may not publish a likeness of a candidate without written consent.

“I am of the view that the person shown in the post can be considered as a ‘likeness’ of the intending candidate, Peter Gutwein,” Mr Hawkey wrote.

“This is based on the references to the Liberal Party, the characteristics of the head, and the ‘Liberal’ labelling on the back of the head.”

The advertisement shows the back of a man with a bald head and is stamped with the Liberal Party logo.

The image of a bald-headed man that appeared as part of an online ad from the Labor Party. The Liberal Party complained about the ad, forcing its removal.

The ad said: “Tasmanians aren’t stupid. If it looks, walks and smells like privatisation. It is.”

Mr Hawkey on Saturday said he could not talk about “specific cases”.

However, Liberal member for Bass Michael Ferguson said the Facebook ad damaged Labor’s credibility.

“We have made it perfectly clear TasTAFE under a majority Gutwein Liberal government would remain in full public ownership, and for Labor to deceive on this is absurd,” Mr Ferguson said.

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Labor Party secretary Stuart Benson said Labor would continue its campaign against TAFE privatisation because it was backed by facts.

“It highlights that Peter Gutwein is not only privatisation Pete but precious Pete,” Mr Benson said.