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Craig Kelly wins legal fight over election posters
Former MP Craig Kelly has savaged the Australian Electoral Commission for its “malicious prosecution” in the moments after a Federal Court found his election posters were not in contravention.
Naomi Neilson
Federal Court of Australia’s Justice Michael Lee ruled that Mr Kelly did not contravene the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) political advertising rules and dismissed the proceedings with costs.
It had argued the line was “impermissibly small” and unable to be easily seen by its intended audience.
In a heated tweet following Justice Lee’s decision, Mr Kelly, while standing outside the court, said the AEC “acted disgracefully pursuing a frivolous, malicious and politicised prosecution”.
He claimed this was the “second time the AEC lost against me”, with the first on “election eve when they tried to stop me campaigning”.
“I call on the AEC Commission [sic] Tom Rogers to either accept responsibility and resign, or sack the person responsible for this outrage,” Mr Kelly said.
“At the very least they should be apologising to the taxpayers for the hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars [that] have been wasted by the AEC (plus having to pay my costs) in this malicious prosecution.”
Appearing for Mr Kelly during the proceedings, Dr Christopher Ward accused the AEC of “living in a utopia where absolute perfection is required, which is absolutely unrealistic”.
He said Mr Kelly had believed he had done the right thing, including consulting with graphic designers with experience in elections.
The Federal Court had earlier been told Mr Kelly asked the AEC where the offending posters were located but was never told.
Justice Lee said this was “not an appropriate way for the regulator to behave” if they wanted changes made.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
