Voters and the Labor Party have blasted the Liberals over text messages warning against voting for Mark McGowan in Saturday's West Australian election.
Reports of anti-Labor text messages being received emerged on social media on Saturday as West Australians go to the polls.Â
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Voters received a message from a sender called 'LaborRisk' that calls to mind last year's 'Mediscare' controversy.
Saturday's message says "FACT: Household bills will go up under a Labor government. Mark McGowan is not worth the risk."Â
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Recipients were unimpressed, labelling the messages as "spam" and "harassment" and asking whether it was legal and who was sending 'this CRAP.'Â
It is not clear who sent the message to WA voters, but that didn't stop federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pointing the finger at the Liberal party.
"I wonder if Malcolm Turnbull will have a tantrum about these text messages," Mr Shorten said in Perth, where he is supporting Mr McGowan.
"They're not above using the very tactics they criticised Labor for."
The Liberal Party was contacted for comment.Â
This is harrassment - SMS received FACT: Household bills will go up under a Labor Government.
— Evelyn Joan (@boobooksnook) March 11, 2017
Mark McGowan is not worth the risk.
FFS, another text recvd today #wapol FACT: Household bills will go up under a Labor Government.
— Lotus (@lotus2955) March 11, 2017
Mark McGowan is not worth the risk.
Prominent Perth lawyer John Hammond said there were two potential problems with these messages, the first with electoral advertising law and the second with privacy law.Â
A blackout period on political advertising imposed 48 hours before elections made an exception for digital media, but mobile phone text messages were a grey area.
In relation to privacy, many customers unwittingly signed away their right to privacy when they signed up with their telecommunications provider, allowing their number to be published or passed on to third-party advertisers.
"But I wouldn't be surprised if in some of those cases the numbers were obtained unlawfully," Mr Hammond said.Â
"The first port of call is your provider - if they say they haven't authorised the release of your phone number the next step is to refer the fact you have been contacted to the Office of the Information Commissioner and ask them to investigate.Â
"We should not be bombarded with messages on the day of the election at all. Robocalls are a turnoff for 99 per cent of people and have the opposite effect. I don't see any gain in it at all, for anyone."Â
In 2016, Queensland Labor sent election-day text messages and 'robocalls' to voters claiming Medicare was under threat from the Coalition.
The Liberal Party filed a police complaint over the text message in the wake of the July 2 election result, claiming misleading political advertising, but the Australian Federal Police determined no offence had taken place.
Polls show Mr McGowan is on track to lead WA Labor to a decisive win over the two-term Barnett Liberal government.
- with AAP