Liberal party MP’s Gladys Liu and Josh Frydenberg will keep their seats in parliament after a court ruled there was no need for a by-election because of their misleading election day signage.
The two Liberal MP’s results in this years federal election had been challenged over a series of signs that were created mimicking the signage of the Australian Electoral Commision.
The signs, which were written in Mandarin, suggested the correct way to vote was to put the Liberal party first.
The court determined that the signs could not have influenced enough people to make any different to the final tallies for the two Victorian seats.
The court has however asked former Liberal Party State Director Simon Frost, to explain why he should not be referred to the High Court for “the committal of an illegal practice under … the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918”.
In it’s judgement the court said the AEC should not be the subject of trickery.
“The AEC occupies an independent place and role under the Act of some importance,” the court judgement reads. “Its independence should not be appropriated or undermined by trickery or misleading or deceptive material whereby the AEC is, in effect, impersonated.”
The court found that even though Frost was not aware of the final translation used on the signage, he was aware of the plan to create signs that mimicked the colours and fonts of the AEC. Frost has six weeks to respond to the court’s question.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he has no concerns about the parties conduct labeling the law suit a “smear job”.
“I mean it was a smear job and it’s been chucked out,” Morrison said on Tuesday.
Shadow Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, however sees it differently and describes the court judgement as a “damning indictment on Scott Morrison’s Liberals.” .
Dreyfus says the judgement clearly declares that the Liberal party conducted electoral fraud, and the response from the Prime Minister shows he as a “tentative relationship with the truth.”
“This is another extraordinary failure of leadership and judgement by Scott Morrison. As the leader, he is responsible – and, as always, he’s saying “nothing to see here”.
Dreyfus said the court’s decision showed that the Liberal party had clearly set out to mislead voters.
OIP Staff
