Brumby to breach standards with taxpayer funded advertising during by-election

The Brumby Government has signalled that it intends to continue its taxpayer-funded political advertising during the Altona by-election, Shadow Attorney-General Robert Clark said today.

The Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition wrote to the Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet on Sunday 24 January requesting that the guidelines and conventions on government advertising to be adhered throughout the public service during the Altona by-election.

The Secretary’s response on Monday 25 January claimed that the conventions regarding government advertising only applied during general elections, referring any further inquiries to the Premier.

Essentially, the Brumby Government has rejected the Coalition’s calls for it to comply with the conventions on government advertising during election periods.

This means the government will continue to use taxpayers’ money on politically partisan advertising, despite the potential impact of advertising campaigns on voters in the Altona by-election.

“John Brumby will continue unabated with his spend of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded political advertising despite the Altona by-election,” Mr Clark said.

“This is despite the fact that John Brumby, when Opposition Leader in 1997, called for government advertising to be halted during the Mitcham by-election.

“This is not an issue about whether caretaker conventions about government appointments or decisions apply in by-elections – no-one is arguing that they do. Rather, it is about applying the conventions on government advertising during by-elections. Those conventions have been observed during by-elections at a Commonwealth level, and they should be observed in Victoria too.

“In Opposition, John Brumby promised that if elected to government he would legislate to end ‘so-called information campaigns by government departments and authorities, especially during election periods’. Source: Hansard, 8 March 1995, p.357

“In government, Mr Brumby should practise what he preached,” Mr Clark said.