Rules banning politicians from using their taxpayer-funded printing allowance to criticise the Government have been blasted as “censorship” and an “Orwellian . . . assault on democracy” by Coalition MPs.
The rules were changed this month to stop the partisan abuse of the allowances, after a damning report by the Auditor-General found evidence of parties using the funds to print election material.
In a rare recent outbreak of unity in the Coalition party room, Opposition MPs yesterday attacked the rules after many of them had even relatively innocuous items rejected by public servants vetting material.
South Australian Liberal MP Jamie Briggs wanted to post out fridge magnets with emergency contact numbers in envelopes marked with the words “Important Community Information”.
He said he was told he would have to either reprint or place stickers on the 58,000 envelopes stating they had been funded by taxpayers.
Victorian senator Scott Ryan spoke out against the rules, saying officials had suggested if MPs wanted to send copies of Hansard to constituents, it may have to be vetted, in case it attacked parties.
Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig last night rejected the criticisms, insisting MPs were still free to criticise Government policy or decisions.
Under the regulations, MPs are banned from using their allowance for “electioneering” — which is defined as material that “seeks support for, denigrates or disparages: (i) the election of a particular person or persons; or (ii) a particular political party or political parties”.
“This is not about what parliamentarians can say, it is about making sure all parliamentarians use their taxpayer-funded entitlement in a manner in line with the regulations,” he said. “The reality is these guidelines were not followed in the past, and the Government makes no apology for insisting taxpayers’ funds are spent in line with the regulations.
“The Liberal Party may believe they have a right to spend these taxpayer dollars to fund Liberal Party advertising, but the reality is they do not.”