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Sometimes the small stuff deserves sweat:

why election posters shouldn’t go on poles
and bridges
There's a lot of hot air about poster wars at the moment, but the fact is
putting them on public property is illegal — and for good reason.

MICHAEL YABSLEY MAY 04, 2022 13

(IMAGE: TOM RED/PRIVATE MEDIA)

The world may be on the brink of war and in an uncertain recovery from the pandemic. The
nation is midway through a federal election campaign where economic management, national
security and integrity in public life are rightly centre stage.

So why do some people want to stop candidates and parties doing what they’ve always done —
whacking election posters on a vacant pole or bridge? Talk about sweating the small stuff.

In Wentworth — once considered unlosable for the Liberal Party — poster wars have escalated
dramatically in recent days. It’s not just candidate against candidate and supporter against
supporter in this war. The owner of the public property — mainly electricity poles — is not
happy.

Ausgrid, with its 1.3 million customers, has reminded “all political candidates and their staff not
to attach campaign material to electrical assets”. It asks that posters-on-poles lawbreakers be
dobbed in by calling 13 13 65.

This might sound like small stuff, but of course sometimes the small stuff opens a window to
bigger issues. We gain insight into what to expect on the important by looking at form on the
relatively unimportant.

The criminal justice system does this all the time.

Keep the bastards
honest: Australia Throw into this mix one of the most frequent but unedifying messages in politics: “Yes, we did it
needs political but the other side did it first and for longer than we did”. As though the precedent and duration
advertising reform of wrongdoing justifies further wrongdoing.
Read More >
In this case the “it” is election posters on public property.

The Climate 200/Voices Of/teal candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender has fallen into this
trap hook, line and sinker by saying: “I note there are many other candidates in Wentworth and
across Sydney who are doing exactly the same as our campaign.”

There are also plenty of drivers running red lights.

Put another way, to hark back to a good old childhood lesson: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

It’s the same as raising obscene amounts of money to fund what is meant to be a local,
grassroots campaign. Simon Holmes à Court is on the record as saying Climate 200 “does what
is required by the AEC when it comes to disclosure”. That bit of double-speak is the very
rationale that has debauched political fundraising in Australia.

There is no escaping the fact that those who advocate most about integrity will encounter
greater scrutiny. And so they should — as the Catholic Church discovered with institutionalised
child sexual abuse.

Back to posters on poles.

OK. I need to fess up, again. I’m a guilty party from my own days in politics. Making sure the
electorate was awash with corflutes was a widely accepted part of the campaigning cold war.

But here’s the rub. First, it’s illegal, at least on public property. Ausgrid and other public
authorities are unambiguous. Ausgrid has been busy removing posters around the eastern
suburbs. Thank you to Ausgrid customers who ultimately pick up the tab!

Nanny state do I hear you say? Well, maybe, but looking more closely, not really.

Many of us have crusaded against red tape and regulation in our private and public sector
careers. Often those crusades run aground, not because we suddenly love red tape and
regulation but because we find legitimate safety, competition and aesthetic reasons that make
some annoying rules reasonable. It’s the old story: these things are not as simple as we would
Politicians exploit like them to be to justify our initial, knee-jerk objections.
loophole in rules
This takes us to the pointy end of the boilover surrounding election posters and outdoor
meant to keep the
bastards honest advertising generally.
Read More >
Outdoor advertising is highly regulated, from the small sign on a corner deli through to massive
billboards on metropolitan, regional and rural sites. Getting signs approved, especially in the
first place, is a play that is not for the faint-hearted. Consent can take years and involve
departments and agencies across three tiers of government.

Once approved, those assets can become lucrative, tradable investments, notwithstanding
onerous and continuous compliance requirements. Outdoor advertising is well represented in
the fine print of the current Australian rich list.

Everything from bus stops to taxi backs and garbage bins have been monetised through mainly
quality advertising on many quality installations. And we get nice bus stops and rubbish bins to
boot. Win win, as they say.

Say what we will about red tape and regulation, but we don’t want our urban streetscape and
rural landscape looking like an advertising junkyard. It’s one of the many things we take for
granted in the orderly, first-world, democratic, kind-of-capitalist and somewhat regulated place
we call Australia.

So, those posters. There are two worlds that basically operate outside the law when it comes to
outdoor advertising — politics and concert/event promoters, everything from rock’n’roll to the
circus coming to town.

At least politics is seasonal. Many concert and other event promoters have a free-for-all in
perpetuity, with posters defacing even state-of-the-art, designer utility poles. I would like to
know how many millions of dollars councils and other public authorities spend scraping this
printed graffiti off, only to make way for the next offering.

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is the black market of outdoor advertising. Political
parties and independent candidates are the main beneficiaries. Political posters on public
property are hardly at the heart of the trust deficit in Australian politics. But sometimes it helps
to get small things in order before the deli owner asks the inevitable question: “Why can
politicians advertise themselves freely on an electricity pole when I can’t put a sandwich board
on the footpath advertising lunch-time specials?”

Look, despite my own self-confessed poster transgressions from the distant past, political
parties and candidates, independents included, have a greater responsibility to lead by
example. And that means by their election posters as well.

Do you think election posters should be allowed to stay up during an election campaign? Write
to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We
reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Yabsley
CONTRIBUTOR
Michael Yabsley was a member of NSW Parliament from 1984 until 1994. He is a former
federal treasurer of the Liberal Party, and the author of Dark Money – a plan to reform
political fundraising and election funding in Australia.

TOPICS

2022 FEDERAL ELECTION AUSGRID AUSPOL CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING ELECTRICITY POLES

TEAL CANDIDATES

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13 comments

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13 COMMENTS oldest

Woopwoop 1 month ago

I’m far more worried about the hideous “tagging” defacing our city than a few ephemeral posters.

4 Reply

MayBee 1 month ago

The only reason this issue is getting an outing now, is because of the Teal independents in seats the Libs feel they rightfully own. It’s never been an
issue for pollies before, and will be quietly shelved, if and when a seat become “safe” again. If a law is made (that’ll be lots of laws actually, as I think
it’s a council matter), then it needs to be applied evenly/fairly, not a blind eye turned to “mates” as usually happens.

13 Reply

PeterM 1 month ago

Reply to MayBee

Totally agree. In the previous Federal Election Campaign there were plenty of Posters on Electricity Poles and elsewhere.
The thing that got to me more than that was the Liberals getting away with, (a) not putting Liberal Party branding on their posters, (b)
Having some of their Posters in the same Color as the AEC

10 Reply

Mike Smith 1 month ago

Which state, or all of them? Do they need volunteers to remove them? Raises hand.

0 Reply

Eric Dettman 1 month ago

The AEC is and has always been weak and ineffective .Any approach to the AEC re breaches of the act is a waste of time

3 Reply

dke 1 month ago

Is this the Michael Yabsley who ran as a Liberal in Canberra in about 1979? I remember his poster campaign throughout the suburbs with his picture
and slogan: “Michael Yabsley – young, receptive and listening”. It was quickly and relentlessly pasted over with a picture of him and his Young Liberal
mates vomiting into Sullivan’s Creek and the slogan: “Yabsley – young, deceptive and sickening “. He didn’t poll well

5 Reply

loki 1 month ago

Reply to dke

During his time as one of Kermit’s headkickers he was know YYY – Yobbo Yuppie Yabbers.

0 Reply

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