Huon Valley Council has been caught failing to act on illegally-placed election signs in its jurisdiction.

The signs in question belong to Liberal candidates in the state election campaign.

They are not alone, as candidates from many backgrounds appear to be flaunting election signage rules.

On 25 February, Liberal candidate signage beside the Huon Highway at Grove was reported to the council, who failed to take action.

The council has a responsibility to forward such reports to the responsible authority. In this case it is the Department of State Growth, who manage major roads around Tasmania.

Today the Department of State Growth confirmed in writing that no report had been forwarded to them by the Huon Valley Council.

“We have no record of a report regarding the sign on the corner of Huon Highway and Turn Creek Road,” the DSG spokersperson said. “We will inspect the site and take the appropriate action.”

The reporter of the signs – who wishes to remain anonymous but who confirmed no political party memberships – told Tasmanian Times that they made two other reports the same day.

“They were in relation to a Liberal sign in Ranelagh, next to Home Hill winery, that was placed in the road reserve,” they said. “Home Hill can support who they want but the signs have to fully on their own property, not on the road verge because they are more visible.”

Another sign reported was further along the Huon Highway towards Kingston, also in a road reserve.

Candidate names on the signs reported were Dean Young and Nic Street, both Liberal Party candidates for Franklin. The authorisation name on the signs was Peter Coulson, State Director of the Liberal Party in Tasmania.

“The reports were made through an app, Snap Send Solve,” the reporter explained to TT. “The following day, 26 February, I received notifications that all three reports had been viewed by the recipient. That means that Huon Valley Council has had 18 working days to either take action themselves or notify State Growth, and have chosen to do nothing.”

Huon Valley Council has been contacted for comment.

Provisions of the Signs Code

Under the Signs Code of the Tasmanian Planning Scheme, an election sign is defined as “an impermanent sign identifying candidates or promoting a political party for local, state or federal government elections.”

Election signs do not require a permit under C 1.4 of the code, provided they meet the conditions applying to these signs. They must:
(a) not encroach on any road or other public land;
(b) have a maximum area of 1.5m²;
(c) not be erected more than 8 weeks before the polling date; and
(d) be removed within 7 days after the polling date.

The Acceptable Solutions guide in C 1.6 also decrees that “the number of signs for each business or tenancy on a road frontage of a building must be no more than:
(a) 1 of each sign type, unless otherwise stated in Table C1.6;
(b) 1 window sign for each window;
(c) 3 if the street frontage is less than 20m in length; and
(d) 6 if the street frontage is 20m or more, excluding the following sign types, for which there is no limit: (i) name plate; and (ii) temporary sign.”

There are also relevant performance criteria, viz:
“The number of signs for each business or tenancy on a street frontage must:
(a) not unreasonably increase in the existing level of visual clutter in the streetscape, and where possible, reduce any existing visual clutter in the streetscape by replacing existing signs with fewer, more effective signs;
and
(b) not involve the repetition of messages or information.”

Placement of multiple signs for the same candidate on a single property are therefore in breach of C 1.6 provisions regarding number and repetition.

Big Parties, Big Signage

Tasmanian Times emailed the Tasmanian Liberal Party yesterday afternoon with several questions about why Liberal candidates had erected billboards without permits and were also leaving trailers in Department of State Growth managed road corridors, also without permits.

At the time of writing they have not provided a response.

Yesterday Tasmanian Times asked Labor Leader Rebecca White about illegally placed signage by Labor candidates on roads such as the Southern Outlet and South Arm Highway, displaying candidates such as Dean Winter (Deputy Leader), Simon Bailey, Meg Brown and Toby Thorpe, and signs featuring Janie Finlay and Michelle O’Byrne in Bass.

“I can look into that,” White promised.

The Department of State Growth made it clear that they do not issue permits for election signage.

A letter stating this explicitly was sent to all state election candidates on 5 March, after the early weeks of the campaign saw candidates from many parties breaching the regulations. Rules about election signs had also been explained to candidates by way of an information pack sent to all candidates by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission. See page 28-29 regarding signage advice.

Independent candidate Tony Mulder believed he was one of those whose trailers had been the target of the Department of State Growth letter, however he was disappointed that there was no follow up action.

He was further annoyed that additional trailers had appeared even after the candidates depicted had received the 5 March letter.

Today Mulder said today he had been contacted again and would comply with the directive, and that he expected all other candidates to do the same.

Apart from location and permit issues, billboards and trailers are also usually in breach of the requirement that election signs be no larger than 1.5 metres square.

The size limit includes electronic billboards. Signs such as those of Clare Glade-Wright (independent for Franklin) at Eastlands in Rosny are larger than the permitted size and therefore in breach of regulations.

Reports provided to Tasmanian Times also note that Jacqui Lambie Network candidates also have non-conforming signs that are illegally placed.