Labor campaigners and a senior party official have met taxpayer-funded electorate staff during work hours to discuss the campaign strategy for the state election in a potential breach of strict laws introduced three years ago. | sumeyyailanbey
Labor campaigners and a senior party official have met taxpayer-funded electorate staff during work hours to discuss the campaign strategy for the upcoming state election in a potential breach of strict laws introduced three years ago.
Under the 2019 law, electorate staff are prohibited from doing campaign work in office hours. They are also not allowed to direct how a person should vote at an election by promoting a political party or the election of any candidate.But in the recent meetings, a well-informed senior Labor Party source said the discussion was about the forthcoming election campaign.
The Centre for Public Integrity’s research director, Dr Catherine Williams, said the Ombudsman and IBAC Commissioner had been unequivocal in the recent Operation Watts report into branch stacking, which condemned political parties for misusing public funds for campaigning, including the salaries of paid electorate office staff.Scott Barbour
In the red-shirts rort, Labor hired casual electorate officers to campaign for the party in marginal seats. The party paid 60 per cent of their salaries, and 40 per cent came from the taxpayer-funded electorate office budget. Many told Ombudsman Deborah Glass they were expected to mainly do campaign-related work. Glass at the time described the scheme as an “artifice” and “wrong”.
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