With less than a month to go to the “Super Saturday” byelections, the LNP has deferred its legal fight against Moreton Bay Regional Council to have all political campaign signage limitations removed.
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The council regulates the display of certain advertising devices on public or private land via its bylaws, including political campaign signs.
Eight LNP candidates from the Moreton Bay region, including Shadow Treasurer Tim Mander and former MP Reg Gulley, launched a Supreme Court action against the council in August 2017.
The court documents called on the council to stop enforcing the laws and for parts of them to be declared invalid, particularly restrictions on advertising more than 42 days from an election, size of signs and a 120-ad limit across electorates.
It is understood the court action could be brought with just 48 hours’ notice to the council.
But Dr Mary Crawford of the Queensland University of Technology said the LNP’s decision to postpone court action was down to a renewed focus on One Nation preferences in the marginal seat of Longman, which includes much of Moreton Bay region.
“This move seems very timely given that the Super Saturday byelections are looming, and Longman is a very marginal seat,” she said.
It comes in the same week that we hear One Nation is giving their preferences to the LNP's Trevor Ruthenberg.
“Last time when Susan Lamb won the seat, it was won on One Nation preferences.
“Current polling suggests One Nation isn’t polling that well [in Longman] right now and those votes have to go somewhere.
“I’d say the LNP is getting very serious about Longman and that is why they’re deferring that court case.
“They know the research, and the research says voters are turned off by peripheral arguing, in-fighting and wasting of money.
“It is an important byelection and they’re pulling out all the stops to try and win.”
Since the court action was filed, the council has relaxed its local laws, allowing political information booths and campaign signage all year round on public land.
But mayor Allan Sutherland said this hasn’t been enough to satisfy the LNP.
“They are continuing to threaten Supreme Court action,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is a disgraceful abuse of political power.
“But I’m willing to be proven wrong, so we are going out for a second round of public consultation.
“If people would like [us] to change our current restrictions on political signage so that political parties can put up signs wherever they want whenever they want, then please let us know.
“If you believe that there should be limitations on campaign periods and limits on the number of campaign signs around our streets, then you urgently need to make your opinion heard.”
The mayor said the council was keen to stay out of the courts as it was “a complete waste of ratepayer dollars”.
“Personally, I don’t want to see a proliferation of political junk all over our streets and intersections and bus stops.
“It’s a matter of public safety. We want to restrict the numbers because people are putting upwards of 50 or 60 signs on a 300-metre stretch of road and so we drew a line in the sand and said enough is enough.”
A spokesman for the LNP said the legal action was on hold while the council sought submissions on their proposed changes to signage bylaws, and did not say if it would return to court after the byelection.
“The LNP has made a submission regarding the bylaws and awaits council’s final decision before deciding whether any further legal action is required.
“It is very surprising that the Labor-aligned mayor has now raised this again during a byelection in which Bill Shorten is struggling, given submissions don’t close until 5pm on September 5.
“Mayor Sutherland clearly doesn’t mind his photo being proliferated on Labor material.
“Mayor Sutherland featured on Labor Party election signage during last year’s state election and he has a staff member who is the Labor candidate for Petrie.”
