The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has dismissed claims made by the Coalition that a local news outlet was just a Teal funded publication designed to “propagate and promote”.
Liberal Senator Jane Hume formally submitted a complaint against Gazette News to the AEC on Tuesday 11 March after suggesting the news publication was funded by Climate 200.
In a statement on Thursday 27 March, the AEC said it had considered Gazette News’ content and published material, finding that it did not fall into “electoral matter, therefore there are no authorisation requirements”.
“It should also be noted that electoral matter is defined by the Electoral Act to exclude the reporting of news, presenting of current affairs, or any genuine editorial content in news media,” the statement said.
“Additionally, there is no evidence at this stage that this organisation has incurred electoral expenditure that would require it to register as a financial disclosure entity with the AEC.”
Gazette founder and chief executive officer Anna Saulwick welcomed the AEC’s decision and said Gazette’s journalists could return to focusing on what they do best.
“This was always a nasty, false political stunt, and the AEC’s decision confirms it,” she said.
“Some politicians are willing to try to intimidate independent media into silence, but we won’t be backing down from asking tough questions or serving our local communities.”
The AEC complaint and investigation was sparked after it came to light that three major backers of the news publication included Matt Doran, James Taylor and Mark Rawson, who have been known to make financial contributions to Climate 200, according to AEC disclosures.
When posed a question about the relationship between Climate 200 and Gazette News at the National Press Club, Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes à Court denied any links.
Coalition members were quick to comment, however, in the days following Senator Hume’s complaint, with Nationals leader David Littleproud and Liberal Senator James Paterson calling Gazette News “the Teals’ ‘fake online news site’” and “pro-Teal fake newspapers” respectively.
Senator Paterson also questioned the coincidence of the Liberal, National and Labor MPs coverage being “more critical”, while Teal candidate coverage seemed “uniformly positive”.
But at the time Ms Saulwick retorted stating that “there will always be politicians who don’t like scrutiny and are willing to make false claims to damage those who scrutinise them”.
The Gazette’s outlets covering eastern Melbourne, Gippsland and the Western region of Victoria, as well as New South Wales’ mid north coast and Sydney’s north shore, have not shied away from providing coverage of these regions’ independent candidates nor providing critical commentary of the Coalition’s nuclear policy.
But the pre-election coverage was also dotted with articles on other candidates from various political backgrounds.
Senator Hume was contacted for comment.
