A billboard authorised by GetUp attacking One Nation on Health has appeared on Griffith’s Wakaden Street. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
One Nation candidate for Farrer David Farley has said “thank you” to lobby group GetUp for erecting signs in Griffith attacking his party, saying the move will backfire and help him get elected.
Mr Farley has also backed his leader Pauline Hanson’s criticism of the Greens over a Punjabi-language election corflute, saying campaign material should be in English.
GetUp has reportedly invested $400,000 in a campaign across Griffith and Albury to stop One Nation winning its first federal Lower House seat since the party was formed in 1996.
This includes billboards at entrances to Griffith and a video ad highlighting Ms Hanson’s support for Donald Trump’s stance on war with Iran, linking her to rising fuel prices.
Several other anti-racism signs, put up by unknown groups, have also appeared around the Riverina town.
Anti-One Nation signs have been appearing all over Griffith. Photo: Supplied.
Farley says “thank you” to GetUp
Mr Farley said the GetUp signage would help his campaign.
“GetUp is using non-Farrer dollars, non-Australian dollars, and international influence to direct and sway a by-election within the Australian democracy,” he said.
“GetUp supports the net zero policies which are driving up the costs of living for everyone in Farrer and Australia,” he said.
“GetUp supports the open-door immigration which is driving our national housing crisis.”
He also labelled the group’s Hanson-Trump video “not fair”, saying GetUp had no understanding of the Middle East conflict.
GetUp is an Australian progressive advocacy organisation and campaigning group. It was founded in 2005 and focuses on political and social issues such as climate policy, economic inequality, human rights, and government accountability.
Debate over Punjabi-language sign
Ms Hanson also weighed into the debate about election signage this week, criticising Greens candidate Richard Hendrie for erecting a pro-election placard in the Punjabi language.
“The Greens ignore the vital need to use English for those who want to call Australia home,” she posted on Facebook.
Pauline Hanson posted the Greens sign on Facebook. Photo: Pauline Hanson Facebook.
When asked by Region if he agreed, Mr Farley largely supported the view.
“The English language is the adopted language of Australia,” he said.
“Assimilating is adopting the English language – using foreign languages across our democratic campaigning only hobbles and slows assimilation to the detriment of the migrant and Australia.”
Griffith Sikh community leader Manjit Lally said the One Nation attack on Punjabi election signs was unfair, given that the Australian Electoral Commission publishes material in many different languages.
“I don’t know why [One Nation] is reacting in this way; you can find a lot of different languages on every single government website,” he said.
The Albury Greens also hit back at Ms Hanson.
“We’ve upset Pauline and a bunch of racists with our beautiful Punjabi and Nepali language signs (which we’ve been using since 2019) in Albury because they’d rather use confected outrage than address the real issues affecting our electorate: healthcare, cost of living and the environment,” the party said on Facebook.
Translated to English, the Punjabi Farrer election sign says the Greens have always put the community first and have never accepted donations from corporations.
The Farrer by-election will take place on Saturday 9 May. Early voting commences Tuesday 28 April. Check out the Australian Electoral Commission website for details on where to vote.
