NEWS DESK
Shaw a target for unions, women Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
Searching questions: Google ad campaign suggests Labor candidates endorse a Liberal Party campaign website.
VEC investigates online Frankston line campaign Continued from page 1 The Liberal Party is not listed on the frankstonline.com.au website but the site is compliant with VEC guidelines on political advertising. The site is “authorised by Damien Mantach, 104 Exhibition Street, Melbourne”. Mr Mantach is the state director of the Liberal Party’s Victorian division and the Exhibition St address listed on the ‘Frankston Line Facts’ website is the address of the party’s Melbourne headquarters. VEC communication, education and research manager Sue Lang declined to confirm whether the Google AdWords keywords using Labor candidates’ names breached electoral advertising guidelines. “All I’m prepared to say is that we are conducting enquiries,” she said. Whoever selected the Google AdWords ‘Tim Richardson’ and ‘Sonya Kilkenny’ to direct online traffic to the Liberal Party owned frankstonline.com.au site may be exploiting a failure of VEC electoral campaigning guidelines to effectively police online advertising.
Political print and TV ads must identify who has authorised the message. A Victorian parliamentary inquiry is finalising a report on “the impact of social media on Victorian elections and Victoria’s electoral administration”. The inquiry’s terms of reference included a look at “whether online electoral advertising, such as Google Adwords, is appropriately regulated in Victoria.” The VEC has previously said it has no power to force Google to disclose the name of advertisers who book Google AdWords campaigns. A Labor opposition spokesperson said: “Questions need to be answered by the Liberal Party - if they are responsible for this deceptive ad campaign then it is nothing more than a sign of desperation by the Napthine Government who have delivered very little for residents on the Frankston Line.” The Liberal Party’s Victorian campaign manager Andrew Cox did not respond to several requests for comment over several days.
ACCUSATIONS of political “thuggery” in Frankston have begun to fly in the lead-up to November’s state election. An online pro-choice campaign targeting independent Frankston MP Geoff Shaw over his anti-abortion stance is being directed from behind the scenes by a trade union. The ‘Never Going Back’ website at www.nevergoingback.org.au states: “[Premier] Denis Napthine is helping ex-Liberal MP Geoff Shaw draft legislation to overhaul Victoria’s abortion laws and undermine Victorian women’s right to choose, all so he can cling to government.” Internet registry records show Victorian Trades Hall Council industrial and campaigns officer Luke Hilakari registered the Never Going Back website’s name in January this year but the site itself does not fully disclose the union’s role in establishing the campaign. The Victorian Trades Hall Council is not formally affiliated with the Labor Party, although many of its member unions are. The VTHC’s media and communications organiser Edwina Byrne confirmed the Never Going Back campaign is “not an official Trades Hall campaign”. Ms Byrne said the union had merely provided “technical support” and registered the name of the website. “Luke has teamed up with a bunch of savvy feminists and he’s the leader of the group,” Ms Byrne said. The website which encourages
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Shaw under fire: A screengrab from the Never Going Back website takes aim at Geoff Shaw and Premier Denis Napthine.
members of the public to “sign up” via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to “spread the word”, claims Mr Shaw wants to “recriminalise abortion”. Mr Hilakari said the union had “helped build the website” on behalf of a group of organisations “passionate” about Mr Shaw’s anti-abortion opinions. He said it “would be unfair to describe the union as taking the lead on this [website]” but declared the VTHC “stood shoulder to shoulder with those who support a women’s right to choose.” A spokesman for Mr Shaw condemned the union’s failure to declare its role in the Never Going Back campaign and disputed several facts listed on the campaign website. “Not only is the information up on their site a complete fabrication, it is also a heinous representation devoid of any sort of respect for the difficult decisions that women can encounter,” he said. “This is typical union thuggery, demonstrating that there are in fact new lows to which they will sink. “We’ve been brave enough to openly discuss these issues, and
it’s groups like this that don’t want to have a reasoned debate, but just want to silence those with a differing opinion.” Mr Hilakari told The Times that Liberty Victoria, a self-described non-partisan advocacy group for civil liberties, was one of the organisations involved with the Never Going Back campaign. Liberty Victoria spokesperson Anne O’Rourke said the group “had watched” Mr Shaw’s attempts to “wind back” 2008’s abortion law reform bill and had decided to campaign against him via the Never Going Back initiative. “It’s estimated that one in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime, yet there is still a stigma around it when there shouldn’t be,” Ms O’Rourke said. Ms O’Rourke said Liberty Victoria would support politicians “across party lines” who are prochoice. Mr Shaw has called Victoria’s abortion laws “the worst in the world” and wanted to give antiabortion doctors the right to not refer women to other medical practitioners for a termination.
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The MOVE Frankston study Monash University is conducting the MOVE Frankston study to see how recreation and exercise facilities can encourage active living. Two in three people who take part in the study will receive free passes for the new Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre. Everyone who takes part will also go into the draw to win one of three $150 supermarket vouchers.
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Frankston Times 28 July 2014
If a MOVE Frankston team member contacts you this July or August, whether in the community or by phone, please think about joining the study. For more information, visit: www.move-frankston.org.au