This week we reflect on one of the most visible and annoying features of the recently concluded federal election campaign – the incessant spam from political parties.
We break down the various exemptions and carve-outs that make it legal for political parties to collect information about voters and spam us without consent.
While the premise of the exemptions is to preserve the freedom of political communication in the name of democracy, we explore how the practice might be subverting our democratic ideals.
Links:
Article explaining how political parties can legally spam voters (ABC News) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-29/political-parties-can-send-you-texts/105226350
Article breaking down Trumpet of Patriots spam campaign (SBS News) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/trumpet-of-patriots-texts/vsqj4l75x
Article about “H Fong” the man behind Trumpet of Patriots spam campaign (SBS News) https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/01/who-is-h-fong-harry-trumpet-of-patriots-sms-text-messages-federal-election-ntwnfb
Crikey for PM campaign (Crikey – Paywalled) https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/28/spam-texts-election-clive-palmer-trumpet-of-patriots-monique-ryan-privacy-act-crikey-for-pm/
Article about political parties’ postal vote application texts (ABC News) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-31/aec-warns-of-unsolicited-postal-vote-texts/105116220
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Transcript
This is an automatically generated transcript. We make our best efforts to check that it is an accurate reflection of the episode, but it may contain some errors and unedited content.
