I welcome the findings by the Australian Electoral Commission that Advance Australia’s advertisements targeting me are in breach of section 329 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
These advertisements falsely depict me as a candidate for the Australian Greens party.
I am not, and have never been, a member of the Greens nor endorsed as their candidate.
I am running as a community-endorsed independent candidate to represent all people in the ACT and give our community a voice on the issues that matter to us. I want us to stop missing out on our fair share of funding and have the right to decide and debate the issues that matter most to our community.
I am disappointed that it has taken more than three weeks for this decision to be reached.
We first lodged a complaint with the AEC on 26 April 2022.
More than 40,000 Canberrans have already voted at pre-poll and another 12,000 by postal.
We have received hundreds of emails, calls and messages from people across the ACT outraged and confused by Advance Australia’s false and misleading advertising.
In response to this decision, we have today written to the AEC requesting that Advance Australia be prosecuted for this flagrant breach of Australian electoral law.
This behaviour from Advance Australia is corrosive for our democracy and underscores how critical it is that we have federal truth in political advertising laws, backed up by serious penalties, something I have been calling for over many years.
It says a lot about my opponents that they are relying on false and misleading advertising to try and scare people instead of presenting their own ideas for the future of our great city.
We have had enough. Canberrans want truth, integrity and accountability. Someone who is accessible, truly represents them and works hard every day on their behalf. That’s what I will deliver.