Two Liberal election ads have fallen foul of the media regulator, with the Australian Communications and Media Authority finding both had failed to tell listeners who was speaking in the ads, as required in the Broadcast Services Act.
One aired on Southern Cross in Tasmania, and featured premier Will Hodgman spruiking what his Liberal government had done for Tasmania — progress that would be undermined by a Labor/Greens minority government federally. The ad featured who authorised it, but didn’t say it was spoke by Hodgman.
The other aired on C91.3FM, owned by Campbelltown Radio Pty Ltd. It featured grabs from Liberal party candidate Russell Matheson, and said at the end it had been authorised by campaign director Tony Nutt, but didn’t say the ads were spoken by Matheson. The ads started with the words, “Hi, I’m Russell Matheson”, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy the rather strict rules.
“Both the broadcasters involved have taken steps to ensure compliance into the future,” the release states. “The ACMA expects all licensees to have effective clearance and control procedures in place to ensure compliance with the election advertising rules.”
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