Laming failed to put his name to three posts and deliberately disguised his identity in one case, court finds
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
The former Liberal MP Andrew Laming has been fined $20,000 for Facebook posts that did not declare his political links, after the federal court found he had breached the authorisation requirement of electoral law.
On Wednesday Justice Darryl Rangiah found that Laming had failed to put his name and city or town of residence to three Facebook posts containing electoral matter on a page titled “Redland Hospital: Let’s fight for fair funding”.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
$10,000 for a Facebook post of 24 December 2018 in which Laming referred to himself in the third person, stating that he had “boosted” funding of the Redland hospital by $77m.
$5,000 for a post on 7 February 2019 in which he posted an image, and wrote an accompanying caption, comparing the federal funding for “Metro South Health” provided under the LNP with that provided under the ALP.
$5,000 for a post on 5 May 2019 in which he urged readers to send Labor supporters a table setting out payments to Metro South Hospital and Health Service.
About Author
More Stories
DeepSeek blocked from some app stores in Italy amid questions on data use
SoftBank ‘in talks’ to invest up to $25bn in OpenAI
US’s biggest trading allies brace for Trump’s tariffs in ‘game of chicken’