Wags act out on the Campaign Trail. Spotted by Crikey reader Kirk Muddle on Lytton Road, East Brisbane (the main road out to the Bayside Suburbs) a defaced billboard for Kerry Rea:

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Around the 12th of July 2010 residents from the federal seat of McPherson on the southern end of Gold Coast received a very expensive looking glossy eight page A4 booklet from their retiring local MP Margaret May.

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Click on the picture for the full eight page PDF.

The speculation was already rife re Julia Gillard calling the election so the timing was clearly aimed at getting the booklet out before the election was called and the federal MP’s gravy train of printing allowances ran out. Proof that the booklet was produced at taxpayers expense can be found on the last page at the bottom.

The booklet even alludes to the fact the election is likely to be called any day. The booklet was basically a taxpayer funded promotional item to extol the virtues, apparent achievements and hard work this member has been supposedly doing over the past 12 years.

But the mystery was why would a retiring member of parliament undertake such effort and spend taxpayers funds on such blatant self-serving publicly funded propaganda so close to sailing off into the sunset from Parliament forever?

The answer may lie in Ms May’s future plans. As can be read in this Gold Coast Bulletin article here.

It seems Ms May has desires to get a new gig as Gold Coast Mayor and what better way to kick off your campaign then a publicly funded mailing to at least half the electors of the Gold Coast! It’s a shameless self-promotion that provides yet another reason why the entire printing and postage allowance scheme for federal MP’s should be reviewed and maybe scrapped!

The way forward. Crikey artist-in-residence (and Culture Mulcher blogger) W.H. Chong presents the party of the future…

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