Election candidates advised on poster rules

1 September 2017

Orange City Council has provided information to candidates in the upcoming council election about where they can display their advertising posters.

The same NSW Government regulations which cover candidate posters during state elections also apply to local council elections.

The Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act of 1912 prohibits posters from being placed on any crown or community-owned land, which includes trees on road verges, alongside highways, on council buildings or other structures or in parks.

The posters can be displayed on private property with the permission of the owner.

During the last state election, council received a number of complaints about posters. Council rangers removed posters and a letter was written to candidates encouraging them to comply with regulations.

In the lead-up to this election, Orange City Council has received a number of complaints regarding campaign posters being placed in public areas, and being attached to trees and power poles. As a result, council is providing information to all candidates via the email address they supplied to the Electoral Commission about the legal obligations for displaying posters at election time.

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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGULATIONS :

Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41

151B Exhibition of posters

(2A) A person shall not post up, or permit or cause to be posted up, a poster:

(a) on or within any premises occupied or used by, or under the control or management of:

(i) the Crown, any instrumentality or agency of the Crown, or any statutory body representing the Crown or any other body prescribed by the regulations as a statutory body representing the Crown, or

(ii) any local authority, or

(b) in the case of premises which have no one in occupation, on or within those premises, unless that person has obtained:

(i) in the case of premises owned by one person alone, the permission in writing of that person, or

(ii) in the case of premises owned by two or more persons, whether as joint tenants or as tenants in common or otherwise, the permission in writing of at least one of those persons.

It is noted that the definition of ‘premises’ under this Act includes “any structure, building, vehicle or vessel or any place, whether built on or not, and any part thereof”.

Electoral signs on public roads and/or private land (i.e. land not Council or Crown land) do not require Development Consent, providing they meet the exempt development standards set out in the SEPP below, AND have the consent of the landowner:

State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008

2.83 General requirements

(1) To be exempt development under this code, development specified in this Division must:

(a) have the consent in writing of the owner of the land on which the sign is to be located and, if the sign or part of the sign projects over adjoining land, the consent of the owner of the adjoining land, and

(b) be approved under section 138 of the Roads Act 1993, if the sign or part of the sign projects over a public road, including a footway.

Subdivision 13 Election signs

2.107 Development standards

The standards specified for that development are that the development must:

(a) not be more than 0.8m² in area, and

(b) if on the site of a heritage item or draft heritage item—not be attached to a building, and

(c) be displayed by or on behalf of a candidate at an election referred to in clause 2.106 or the party (if any) of any such candidate, and

(d) be displayed in accordance with any relevant requirements of the Act under which the election is held, and

(e) be displayed only during the following periods:

(i) 5 weeks immediately preceding the day on which the election is held,

(ii) the day on which the election is held,

(iii) 1 week immediately following the day on which the election is held.

The NSW Electoral Commission also sets out the additional guidance (http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/candidates_and_parties/electoral_material/posters):

- Posters are not to be exhibited on or in unoccupied premises, unless permission has first been obtained from the owner.

- It is also unlawful to attach posters to telegraph poles without the written consent of the appropriate electricity provider.