The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has brought proceedings against a man accused of printing and distributing unauthorised and anonymous pamphlets attacking federal independent MP Allegra Spender during the election campaign.
More than 47,000 leaflets were distributed in the electorate of Wentworth in the lead-up to election day, criticising Ms Spender for being weak on antisemitism and attacking her stance on indefinite detention.
ABC NEWS Verify can reveal the AEC has brought the case against finance industry executive and Wentworth constituent Jarrod Davis in the Federal Court for failing to properly authorise the material.
In Australia, political communications are required to be authorised and include the name and address of the entity and the name of the person responsible for the communication.
The bottom of each page of the pamphlet read, "Produced by the people of Wentworth for the people of Wentworth", but did not specify a name or address.
The development comes after a more than five-month-long investigation by the AEC.
"It's not the biggest deal in the world," Mr Davis told ABC NEWS Verify when contacted on Friday.
"The AEC are well aware that it was an error that the authorisation wasn't at the bottom of the pamphlets.
"At the end of the day, my street and my community was being targeted by the Iranian government, and I didn't feel like much was being done by our member of parliament," he said.
The Australian government revealed in August that it had "credible intelligence" that the Iranian government had directed at least two antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Mr Davis criticised the AEC for bringing the case in the Federal Court rather than just allowing him to pay a fine.
"I think it's a gross waste of taxpayers' money, rather than saying, 'Hey, we want you to pay this fine, are you okay with it?'" he told ABC NEWS Verify.
The pamphlets, which ran for more than a dozen pages, also attempted to link Ms Spender to the Labor government.
"It's vital for our democracy that we prevent the distribution of anonymous misinformation that attempts to influence voters, and that's an important responsibility of the independent Australian Electoral Commission," Ms Spender told ABC NEWS Verify on Friday.
"Like most Australians, I have faith in the integrity of the AEC and our legal system, and will leave the court to decide this matter," she said.
"The AEC takes cases involving the complete absence of authorisation information and its widespread dissemination particularly seriously," Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said in a media release.
Failure to authorise electoral communication can carry and penalty of up to $39,600 per contravention.
[HC form embed]
