Coroner & Legal
Act breach ‘accidental’
Penelope Ann during the campaign
A POLITICAL candidate and the publisher of the Mercury have admitted breaching the Electoral Act by publishing an advertisement on the day of the recent Upper House elections for the seat of Hobart.
Greens candidate Penelope Ann and Davies Brothers appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court this morning charged with publishing or causing to be published in a newspaper an advertisement for or on behalf of, or relating to, a candidate or party.
Under Tasmanian law, it is an offence to publish political reports or advertisements on the day of an election.
Ms Ann, 63, who was accompanied by former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, pleaded guilty to the charge, saying she had not intended to advertise at all but was able to after a donation from Dr Brown.
She placed a single small ad which ran on the bottom of page 7 of the newspaper on May 5.
“It was entirely inadvertent. I had actually known you could not place an ad, it just slipped my mind in the hectic rush to the election.”
Magistrate Chris Webster did not record a conviction and placed Ms Ann on a 12-month good behaviour bond.
“It’s not exactly the crime of the century,” he said.
Lawyer for Davies Brothers Pty Ltd, Daniel Zeeman, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company, describing the breach as accidental.
“The company has procedures in place to ensure that no political material is published on the day of an election,” he said.
“Unfortunately this advertisement slipped through.”
He said the company was shocked and remorseful that the publication had occurred.