Fed: Opposition stimulus schools assault falls flat
By Kate Hannon, National Political EditorTue Sep 8 02:15:53 EST 2009
Mon Sep 7 16:15:53 UTC 2009
CANBERRA, Sept 7 AAP - Labor can keep its thousands of Nation Building economic stimulus signs outside schools after agreeing to put authorisations on them.
The opposition claimed victory after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) confirmed its advice of last week that the signs are effectively advertising and in breach of the electoral laws.
But in a decision issued on Monday it said changes announced by the government last Thursday "appear to have resolved the matter".
The opposition took its attack into parliament on Monday, with education spokesman Christopher Pyne demanding an undertaking all other parts of the government's school building program comply with the electoral laws.
But it fell flat when Education Minister Julia Gillard said the former Howard government's Investing in Our Schools program had demanded similar government labelling of funding without authorisation.
"Under the old Investing in Our Schools guidelines, if you had ended up with a school grant and say, bought 5000 books for your library, every one of them had to have a sticker," Ms Gillard said.
She said there was no authorisation for the stickers in the books which would have fallen short of the electoral laws.
"Of course, we will comply with any requirement of the Australian Electoral Commission, he (Mr Pyne) may like at some point to explain the conduct of the Howard government on these questions," Ms Gillard said.
She also pointed to another Howard government spending program, Roads to Recovery, where signs without authorisation dotted the landscape.
Special Minister of State Mark Arbib announced last Thursday the government will place authorisations on around 5000 of the school signs following a complaint lodged with the AEC by Mr Pyne over a week ago.
The government has also agreed to move those Nation Building signs that are within six metres of areas in schools used as polling booths.
But Mr Pyne said the government should remove all of the signs immediately as they are advertising.
"If the government really had any moral fibre at all about spending taxpayers' money, they would stop the erection of these essentially useless signs," Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra.
Under the guidelines for its $42 billion Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan, the government has required the signs remain in place until March 2011, well beyond the next federal election, which is due in late 2010.
Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn said in a statement he was satisfied the government's plan to place authorisation stickers on the signs will remove the risk of any further breach of the Act.
He said there was "a lack of full clarity" in relation to the electoral advertising laws, which had been raised previously before parliamentary committee hearings on electoral matters.
The AEC ruled that the Nation Building signs include "electoral matter" but lack the required government authorisation, making them illegal.
"The AEC considers that the measures announced by the Special Minister of State will address the issues raised about the signs and remove the risk of non-compliance with the Electoral Act," Mr Killesteyn said.
The AEC plans to review its publications providing advice on such matters.
