The Greens have condemned the Liberals for trashing democracy and deceiving voters after the party’s acting Victorian director admitted in court today that signs written in Chinese at polling booths on election day were designed to look like official Australian Electoral Commission signage.
The signs were posted at 13 polling stations in Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong and at 29 polling booths in nearby Chisholm, which was won by Liberals candidate Gladys Liu.
Greens co-deputy leader Senator Larissa Waters said the Liberal official’s admission today was the latest in a long line of Liberal party moves aimed at weakening democracy and silencing the community from having its say.
“The Liberal Party has stooped to dirty tactics and tricks designed to hoodwink voters during elections because the community has noticed it no longer provides leadership or any real plan on critical issues such as climate change or housing affordability,” she said.
“This is not the type of democracy the community deserves, this is a circus led by a clown who holds everyday Australians, their aspirations and the issues that matter most to them in contempt.
“The Liberals have an unhealthy disrespect for transparency and accountability. It starts at the top with the Prime Minister failing to deal with Ministerial conflicts of interest and extends to allowing a revolving door between industry and government and allowing ‘cash for access’ meetings.
“This failure of integrity and culture of rampant self-interest is probably why the Prime Minister has not brought on a vote in the House of Representatives on my bill establishing a Federal corruption watchdog with teeth.
“The Liberals are governing in the best interest of their donors including the mining and gambling industries rather than delivering for our community, society or environment.
“Public trust in democracy will be further eroded by the revelations of election sign deception in court today. The Greens call for strong, urgent action to stamp out corruption, increase transparency and restore public trust in democracy,” Senator Waters said.
