Refugee ads attract complaints

THE Australian Greens want the government to explain why its ads for its new asylum seeker policy should be exempt from independent assessment.

AAPJuly 22, 20131:25pm

GOVERNMENT advertisements about Labor's new asylum seeker policy have drawn the ire of the Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon.

Senator Xenophon has formally complained to the auditor-general about the ads, saying it is a blatant example of a party using taxpayer money for its own political purposes.

Starting on Saturday, the morning after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the new policy, full page ads began running in newspapers with the message that asylum seekers arriving on boats won't be resettled in Australia.

There have also been radio and television ads.

"The ads are directed towards people smugglers and unauthorised boat arrivals, yet they're appearing in Australian newspapers and on Australian television and radio," Senator Xenophon said in a statement on Monday.

"I didn't realise The Adelaide Advertiser had such a huge home delivery run in the outer suburbs of Jakarta."

Normally government advertising campaigns have to be approved by an independent communications committee which checks that they're not promoting party political interests.

However the Special Minister of State can exempt a campaign from this in cases of national emergency, extreme urgency or other compelling reason.

The committee and parliament have to be told of the exemption.

Greens leader Christine Milne demanded the government release the advice it gave to the advertising committee seeking an exemption in this case.

"Labor's electoral fortunes in the polls are not a national emergency," she told reporters in Hobart.

"So let's hear why we've got taxpayers' money being spent and why they won't refer it to the committee immediately to explain why this is national emergency and exempts them from the normal assessment processes."

Originally published asRefugee ads attract complaints

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