Liberals fined for election adverts

The Victorian division of the Liberal Party has been fined $40,000 by the Federal

Court after being sued by the Australian Electoral Commission for failing to include authorisations alongside two newspaper advertisements published ahead of the 2022 federal election.

The latest embarrassment for the Victorian Liberals’ administrative wing comes after party officials failed to lodge their submission on the federal seat redistribution before the AEC’s deadline last November, undermining their pitch to protect vulnerable seats.

In a decision published on Tuesday, judge Michael O’Bryan found then Liberal state director Sam McQuestin had failed to include the required phrase notifying readers that the advertisement had been authorised by him on behalf of the Victorian Liberal

Party, alongside two advertisements that appeared in the Geelong Advertiser.

The full-page ads featured an anti-Labor campaign claiming Corangamite MP Libby Coker opposed young people using their super to enter the housing market, wanted to tear up contracts to stop a local swimming pool being built and did not live in the electorate, as well as two ads with a how-tovote card for Liberal candidate Stephanie Asher, one of which said she was positive, trusted and would deliver for her community. By law, paid political advertisements in Australia must contain the name of the registered political party by whom they have been authorised, as well as the name of the town or city in which the party’s branch is based, and that of the party official responsible for the authorisation.

This information must be published prominently and legibly.

Mr O’Bryan fined the Liberals $10,000 for one Asher ad and $15,000 apiece for the Coker ad and second Asher ad.