LOCAL government candidates are free to advertise on social media without restriction.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Candidates for this month's council elections have flooded Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with pleas for support in recent weeks.
Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Julian Type said the Local Government Act was established before the emergence of social media, therefore it does not include limits for candidates.
"I don't think it is particularly clear what application and various provisions in the act have to things like social media," he said.
"There is certainly no restriction to social media post, nor for that matter are there any restrictions on direct mailings - whether addressed or unaddressed.
"The restrictions are more a rationing mechanism than anything else."
Candidate advertising restrictions include:
● An expenditure limit of $5000 for councillor-alderman or $8000 for mayor and deputy mayor candidates.
● Two pages of advertisements in a daily newspaper or five pages in a regional newspaper.
● Ten minutes television and 50 minutes radio advertising time.
● Fifty signs (no more than three square metres, depending on council regulations) on display at anyone time.
Mr Type said successful and unsuccessful candidates are required to submit a return of relevant electoral advertising after the election.
He said the Tasmanian Electoral Commission also sought returns from publishers and broadcasters to cross-reference.
"There is a fine not exceeding 100 penalty units, which would be $14,000," he said.
"[And] the provision of the court must declare the candidate's election void unless the court is satisfied there is special circumstances.
"The fine applies whether or not a candidate is a elected."