Formal investigation call into Facebook page trolling park lands protesters
Park lands protesters are lodging a formal request calling on the Electoral Commission to investigate social media pages with links to the Labor Party.
A formal complaint on a social media page with links to the South Australian Labor Party is set to be lodged with the Electoral Commission of SA (ECSA) to investigate and determine whether it breaches the Electoral Act
In a letter to the Acting Electoral Commissioner, park lands activist Edwin Kemp Attrill has lodged a formal complaint regarding the SA Labor Party’s alleged use of the Back SA Major Events and Tourism Facebook page.
The page has been vocal in its support of major sporting developments including the North Adelaide Golf Course redevelopment and upcoming MotoGP street circuit, while opposing Adelaide Park Lands protests.
But both the state government and SA Labor Party have denied any involvement in running the page.
The letter has called on the state Electoral Commission to investigate the social media page, claiming it may breach section 112 of the Electoral Act.
Under section 112, “a person must not publish or distribute, or cause or permit to be published or distributed, an electoral advertisement in printed form or through electronic publication on the internet” unless the advertisement is authorised for a registered political party or candidate.
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The maximum penalty if found in breach of section 112 is $5000 if the offender is a natural person and up to $10,000 if the offender is a body corporate.
“Fundamentally, this is about the South Australian Electoral Act, which requires transparency of political advertisements,” Kemp Attrill said.
“This page is not acting transparently; it’s masquerading as if it’s genuine community concern, but actually, it’s directly linked to the South Australian Labor Party, and they are not disclosing that.”
The ‘Back SA Major Events and Tourism’ page was previously authorised by the former state Labor secretary and current Labor Legislative Council Member Reggie Martin, before his authorisation was removed in June.
Posts “exposing the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Adelaide City Council and Park Lands protesters” have been shared to its more than 6700 followers, including the pages run for key Labor Government ministers including Premier Peter Malinauskas, Education Minister Lucy Hood, Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion, Humans Services Minister Katrine Hildyard, State Development Minister Chris Picton.
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The official South Australian Labor Facebook page can also often be seen hitting the ‘like’ button on posts.
“We want the Electoral Commission to do a full and transparent investigation to understand how much of this kind of disinformation is being spread by the South Australian Labor Party,” Kemp Attrill said.
Premier Peter Malinauskas told reporters on Monday afternoon that he was aware of the page and “happens to agree with most of the things” the page had posted.
“I’m not aware of any of it being inaccurate, not that I speak for the page,” Malinauskas said.
“I don’t run the page; the state government doesn’t run the page; Labor Party doesn’t run the page. But it makes post and as far as I can tell, it’s a lot more accurate than some of the other posts I’ve seen regarding the subject matter to do with the golf course upgrade.
“Naturally, I care about what government puts out there on social media, but that’s quite a separate exercise than from me or my office. And people who will be familiar with my social media, know I try and not participate in some of the bile that I see in social media.”
A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told InDaily “ECSA does not comment on investigations, complaints or political commentary”.
Meanwhile, Kemp Attrill and Kaurna traditional owner Janette Milera will again head to Federal Court today to push to release information about the LIV Golf course plans.
“We’ve found a new expert that’s come forward about the grey-headed flying fox. The South Australian government plans to build a driving range, which would require fences as high as five stories tall. That’s not only an eyesore; that’s a threat to the grey-headed flying fox,” Kemp Attrill said.
Trial dates are set for August.
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