Emotions were already running high in the Orange state by-election, but political posters in the city comparing NSW Premier Mike Baird with Adolf Hitler and Deputy Premier Troy Grant with Kim Jong-un have raised the stakes again.
For the posters
DARRYL and Vicky Prestwidge of Orange said this week that the election posters, which are outside their home, needed to be direct in order to make a point about the NSW Government’s greyhound racing ban.
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Mr Prestwidge and his friend, Martin Hallinan, who are both greyhound owners, each created the signs with money out of their own pockets. The signs do not support any other party.
Mr Prestwidge said it was not enough just to advise people to put The Nationals last on their ballot papers, saying the greyhound ban was high-handed and the government spent $1.6 million on an advertising campaign supporting it.
“I wanted to have something stronger with more impact – it’s not the Australian way, the way those fellows went about it,” he said.
Mrs Prestwidge admitted she was surprised by the signs when she first saw them.
“My son said prepare for the house to be egged and I thought he might be right but so far that hasn’t happened,” she said.
“We didn’t want to not say anything – we didn’t want to think maybe we should have done something and put our opinion across.”
Against the posters
WHILE he says political free speech is essential, Associate Professor in political science in the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dominic O'Sullivan, says crass and extreme propaganda undermines proper debate.
He said the posters might be legitimate expressions of free speech, but they are “extremely distasteful, cheapen democracy, and are unlikely to influence voting decisions”.
“Clearly, these posters likening the NSW Premier and the leader of the NSW National Party to the dictators Adolf Hitler and Kim Jong-un reflect the depth of feeling against the government's reversed ban on greyhound racing and other issues,” he said.
“Traditional National voters may well feel that their party let them down in proposing the greyhound ban.
“They may also wish to protest that the policy was adopted hurriedly and without public or party consultation, but this is not “dictatorial” as the posters suggest.
“The decision was taken by a properly elected Parliament, and voters can change that Parliament if they wish.
“The comparison with Hitler, who killed six million Jews, and Kim Jung-un, who executed his uncle by feeding him to starving dogs, is a crass overstatement that will revolt many voters.
“Elections can be times of high emotion, and public policies that matter to people in deeply personal ways are raised.
“A by-election that will not change the government gives people the opportunity to cast a protest vote on a single issue, and many people will do that.
“Free speech is important, but so is reasoned argument.
“It is also democratically important that the people who commissioned these posters identify themselves on the posters, as is required by Division 17 (Bribery, treating, intimidation etc) (151E) of the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41.”