Qld government accused of misconduct over advertising

By Nicola Riches | 26 November 2014
 
Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman.

The Liberal National Party (LNP) in Queensland has been accused of a serious misuse of public money by paying for disallowed advertising campaigns in the run-up to the state election.

Leader of the opposition and shadow minister for Employment and Industry, Labor’s Annastacia Palaszczuk, outright accused Premier Newman’s government of not only advertising the so-called benefits of privatising state assets – a policy prominent on his party’s agenda – but of also booking advertising campaigns in the six month run-up to the election in March, which is not permitted under current rules.

Palaszczuk yesterday told the Queensland parliament: “In the lead-up to the March 2015 election—fewer than four months away—households are being bombarded with endless amounts of political advertising.”

“I believe that it is a misuse of public money to be blatantly advertising within the excluded time frame for political advertising and it must stop,” she continued.

The LNP is also accused of spending local taxes on the campaigns, rather than its own funds, which would normally be used to promote a party’s manifesto. Palaszczuk believes the ads are geared towards pushing the LNP’s agenda, rather than the permitted practice of using advertising to highlight information seen as beneficial to the local electorate.

Palaszczuk also called Newman on the amount LNP has spent on advertising in the past two-and-a-half years. This was quickly deflected with a barrage of facts and figures from the Premier who highlighted than LNP has spent 20% less than the previous government during the same time frame.

Newman said: “To give you a feel, over the past 31 months the current administration that I proudly lead has spent $67.37 million. That is compared to $99.14 million spent by the previous administration in the first 31 months of its parliamentary term.”

However, as it stands, the LNP has now been reported to the Auditor-General for misconduct and a breach of the Queensland Advertising Code.

The code states that any political advertising must not occur in the six-month run-up to an election and “must be presented in objective language, be free of political argument and not try to foster a positive impression of a particular political party or promote party-political interests.”

Queensland government’s master media account has been held by MediaCom for more than eight years, while its creative agencies switch depending on the campaign.

Queensland government referred AdNews to the Hansard report from yesterday’s sitting, while MediaCom, as yet, could not be reached for comment.

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