Clarification

There’s a bit of confusion about ‘election comments’ during the election period, so I just want to clarify the situation as I understand it.

The Local Govt Act requires any comment made on any ‘electoral matter’ to carry the name & locality of the author (meaning you can’t use an alias).

‘Electoral Matter’ is defined as: any matter which is intended or likely to affect voting in an election. This includes matter which contains an express or implicit reference to, a comment on:
• the election; or
• a candidate in the election; or
• an issue submitted to, or otherwise before, the voters in connection with the election.

THEREFORE, any comment on a topic that is NOT about the election is not inhibited by the Act and anyone is free to comment on those topics using an alias (or their own name) with no further requirement. For example, I would think that the ‘Star Hotel’ topic is not about the election per se and therefore comments on that topic would not fall under the Act (although any comment that attempts to tie it to the election or a candidate would be ‘electoral matter’ and would then have to be properly authored).