In the kind of scenes you just do not expect to see freely admitted to by the ruling political party of a democratic nation, a key Liberal Party figure has admitted to making deliberately deceiving signs aimed at convincing Chinese-speaking voters to vote 1 Liberal at polling booths during this year’s Federal Election.
[jwplayer 2DMLfDmo]
On election day in May, signs posted at 42 polling stations across both Kooyong and Chisholm in inner-eastern Melbourne – seats that were ultimately won by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Liberal MP Gladys Liu respectively – directed Chinese-speaking voters that the “correct” way to vote was to place a 1 next to the Liberal Party candidate.
The signs were purple and white in colour, resembling official AEC-related signage, and were deliberately placed next to AEC displays, leading to accusations that the Liberal Party was deliberately attempting to coax potentially confused non-English speaking voters into voting Liberal.
The sign, written in traditional Chinese, found in Chisholm reads:
“The correct way to vote: fill 1 in the green ballots next to the Liberal candidate and fill in the numbers in the other boxes from small to large”
Not the same @SenPaterson #auspol #AUSVote2019 pic.twitter.com/FnzH07vxY8— Scott C Y Ma 馬陳耀 (马陈耀） (@scruff888) May 18, 2019
Both Frydenberg and Liu’s elections are being challenged in Federal Court, and this afternoon while facing questioning the then-acting Victorian director of the party Simon Frost straight-up admitted to doing exactly that.
Frost was questioned by lawyer Lisa De Ferrari, representing the two people directly challenging Frydenberg and Liu’s elections. During that, he admitted to using a colour scheme that was deliberately evocative of official AEC material.
De Ferrari: “You intended to convey that it was an AEC corflute didn’t you.”
Frost: “It was similar to the AEC colours, yes.”
De Ferrari: “That is a yes then?”
Frost: “Yes.”
When translated to English, the signs read “Correct voting method: On a green ballot paper put a ‘1’ next to the Liberal Party candidate.” The Liberal Party’s defence asserts that the signs were “intended” to read “to make your vote count” when translated, rather than the more direct “correct voting method,” and that the confusion is due to the nuances of translation. They also claim the colour scheme was not the “same” as the AEC, rather just “similar.”
Although he won his seat handily, Frydenberg required preferences to get over the line in Kooyong after failing to retain the seat on first preferences alone. Liu, on the other hand, won Chisholm with just a 1,090 vote margin on the two-party preferred count.
Interestingly enough, 20% of Chisholm residents claim some form of Chinese ancestry, and well over a quarter speak either Mandarin or Cantonese.
The AEC, for what it’s worth, has previously urged the court to throw the case out.
You love to see all of this, truly.
