Tasmania vulnerable to political advertising ‘rorts’: report

Tasmania has some of the weakest laws preventing governments from “rorting” taxpayer dollars for political advertising, a Grattan Institute report has found.

ALP Member for Clark, Ella Haddad at Parliament Lawns, Hobart.Picture: Linda Higginson

Tasmania has some of the weakest political advertising laws in the country, leaving taxpayer money vulnerable to government “rorts”, a report has found.

The Grattan Institute report found that abuse of taxpayer funded advertising was “rife” and largely unregulated, especially in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Tasmania was omitted completely from a chart comparing the different states because it had “very little requirements” governing taxpayer funded political ads.

Last year the Liberals spent $43 million of taxpayer money on advertising, more than double than was spent in 2014 when they first entered office.

Labor MP Ella Haddad said some of the advertisements were legitimate, such as Public Health information, but other ads were “blatant” promotions for the Liberal party.

She said the government needed to overhaul the rules covering political advertising to ensure the public purse is not misused by those in power.

“This is about the blatant and brazen misuse of taxpayer money to promote political parties,” Ms Haddad said.

Labor MP Ella Hadid says some ads were legitimate while others were “blatant” promotions for the Liberal Party. Picture: Kenji Sato

“We know the Liberal government here has misused taxpayer money for political purposes, but the fact is our laws here are so weak that they have not been held to account.”

Liberal MP Guy Barnett refuted the claim that the government spent taxpayer money on anything that could be characterised as “political advertising”.

Mr Barnett said all of their advertising was to disseminate important information that should be in the public domain.

“We provide support for our community, we provide public education and information, but we do not spend money on political advertising in Tasmania,” Mr Barnett said.

“We do provide public information on Covid and how to respond to that public health pandemic we’ve had over the last few years, and that’s important information.”

At a federal level, the report says that out of the 10 most expensive political campaigns in the past 13 years, half were run by Labor and half were run by the Coalition.

Lead author Danielle Wood said sweeping reforms were needed at a state and federal level in order to prevent governments from “abusing” taxpayer funds for political gain.

“Weaponising taxpayer-funded advertising for political advantage wastes public money, undermines trust in politicians and democracy, and creates an uneven playing field in elections,” Ms Wood said.

“It’s time to ensure that taxpayer-funded advertising is solely for the benefit of the public, not politicians.”

The Mercury approached the Tasmanian Greens for comment.

Liberals accused of using election advertising loophole

The Liberals spent taxpayer money on brochures just prior to calling the 2021 state election in order to “find a way around” Tasmania’s political advertising rules, Labor claims.

The brochures featured big glossy pictures of Peter Gutwein’s face and a list of recent achievements by the Liberal Government.

Former Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein. Picture: Melanie Kate/Men's Health magazine

Labor MP Ella Haddad filed a complaint to police, but was told they didn’t constitute election advertising since they were ordered prior to the election, made no reference to the election, and only mentioned sitting members.

However, given the brochures were distributed during the election, Ms Haddad said it showed the party’s “clear intention” to use public funds for an election purpose.

“It’s been confirmed by Liberal ministers that they used taxpayer money to pay for Liberal party brochures to be distributed to every letterbox in Tasmania,” Ms Haddad said.

“If we had rules and regulations like other states, the Liberal party should have been held liable to repay that money but they haven’t been because our laws are deficient.”

The Mercury reached out to the government for comment.

Ms Haddad followed up her police complaints with a letter to the Integrity Commission, demanding an inquiry into the “misuse” of public funds.

The request was dismissed by CEO Michael Easton, who found “no evidence” the government had violated the Code of Conduct for Ministers or the Government Members’ Handbook.

“My view is that the brochures do not fall foul of the requirements of the Handbook for Use of the Member Resource Allocation,” he said.

“I consider it is not in the public interest to further investigate the matter given there is no evidence of misconduct.”