A hotly contested state parliament byelection in Victoria has descended into acrimony with the Liberal party lodging a complaint over the alleged destruction of 40 of its posters.
The party said it has complained to the Victorian Electoral Commission over what it says is the sabotage of posters featuring its candidate Scott Rossetti in Gippsland South in the state’s south-east.
Damien Mantach, director of Victoria’s Liberal party, said the destruction was “political sabotage” and “criminal activity”.
But Nationals candidate Danny O’Brien, who is favourite to win the seat over Rossetti, said the allegations were baseless.
“Well, it’s certainly nothing to do with us,” he told Guardian Australia. “I just drove past a paddock where one of my signs blew down, I’m not going to dash out and say it was dirty tricks.”
O’Brien said one his own posters has had its head completely cut out.
.@rharris334 Cry me a river Libs, someone stole our candidate's head... Clearly a surgical strike! #teamdanny pic.twitter.com/s6GQOb7Z9g
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) March 3, 2015
“I find that a bit amusing, it’s a bit of laugh and not something to cry foul over,” he said. “Although if every one of my heads were cut out I wouldn’t be happy, because they aren’t cheap.”
The byelection, called following the retirement of former Nationals leader Peter Ryan, will not feature a Labor candidate, putting the Nationals directly in opposition to its Coalition partner, the Liberals.
The Nationals have moved to quell any unease over the potential for coal seam gas exploitation in Victoria, something that is currently under a moratorium, by backing landowners’ right to veto companies “fracking” on their properties.
“We’ve taken a conservative approach to the industry and we’re very happy to see that continue,” O’Brien said. “There are radical greenies at one end of this debate but there are also everyday farmers who are actually concerned about the impact of this, which is why we’ve responded to that.”
O’Brien said it was “ridiculous” to say he wasn’t the favourite to win the seat, but that he wasn’t taking anything for granted. The Nationals lost Shepparton, a previously safe seat, to an independent candidate in November’s state election.
Rossetti wouldn’t comment on the poster controversy, saying that he wanted to focus on the dire state of the electorate’s roads and economic growth.
“People are genuinely please to have a choice between Liberal and National parties, given that they don’t normally get that with the Coalition agreement,” he told Guardian Australia. “There doesn’t seem to be many rusted on people for any particular party, which makes the election even more open.
“I support a moratorium on coal seam gas until the community and government are satisfied that it needs to change. But I don’t think it’s the biggest issue here.”
