Referral to the Police 5 August 2014
On 5 August 2014, the Electoral Commission referred Free FM and Tim Macindoe MP to Police for a radio advertisement broadcast on Free FM.
It is the Electoral Commission’s view the broadcast of the radio advertisement by Free FM constitutes a breach of section 80 of the Broadcasting Act, as an election programme cannot be broadcast at any time on radio or television other than during the ‘election period’, which runs from 20 August to 19 September 2014 for the 2014 General Election.
The Electoral Commission also considers the broadcast of the radio advertisement to be a breach of section 204F of the Electoral Act as it did not include a promoter statement.
As this matter is now with the Police, the Electoral Commission will not be commenting further.