Campaign posters for Nationals election candidate Kate Hazelton were torn down from the side of a shed on her own property, her daughter and campaign adviser, has claimed.
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Annie Hazelton said the incident occurred on Sunday night.
"Somebody broke into our property and took the corflute off our shed. It's pretty dirty," she said.
The incident comes as Orange City Council has called on campaign managers to remove posters from roadside trees.
Ms Hazelton said she was aware Nationals' volunteers had nailed or screwed some of their posters to trees and she was now getting them removed.
The Central Western Daily has seen posters screwed to trees near Lucknow and Nashdale.
Council has received a number of complaints since the election campaign began about electoral posters being screwed to trees on roadsides.
- Nick Redmond, council spokesman
"I've advised our people not to nail them to the trees. I prefer them to be cable-tied to the tree," she said.
Member for Orange Phil Donato said he was unaware of any of his posters being in areas of public land.
"As far as I'm aware, I've instructed all my volunteers to put the posters up on private property with the consent of the owners," he said.
Mr Donato said if any signs were in the wrong areas he would get them removed.
Under the NSW Electoral Act of 2017 it is an offence to put posters on any public or community-owned land.
That includes trees on road verges, on highways, on council-owned buildings or in parks.
They can only be displayed on private property with the owner's permission.
Council spokesman Nick Redmond said it was likely new campaign volunteers were unaware of the law.
"Council's customers service team has received a number of complaints since the election campaign began about electoral posters being screwed to trees on roadsides," he said.
Mr Redmond said they had advised campaign managers of the rules and said it was pleasing to see them being removed.
He said if there were further complaints council rangers would remove them.
WHAT'S BANNED
- No posters on any Crown or community owned land
- Posters banned from trees on road verges and alongside highways
- No posters on council-owned buildings, structures or in parks
- Posters only allowed on private property with owner's permission
- While not banned, putting screws into trees can make them susceptible to decay or reduce their life expectancy
- Posters are banned from any wall, fence or boundary of a polling place
- No posters on cars or stalls on footpaths near polling place
- Electoral matter cannot be written, drawn or depicted on any property, including roads, footpaths, buildings, vehicles, vessels, hoardings or place (whether it is or is not a public place and whether on land or water).
- Names and addresses of a person authorising the electoral material must be included on all posters and signs
- However, that doesn't include electoral matter on T-shirts, lapel buttons, lapel badges, pens, pencils, balloons or business cards.
- SOURCE: NSW Electoral Act 2017 No. 66
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David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
