I've been putting up corflutes for over 12 years at every election. In fact I had risen to such high notoriety in the postering world that Nick Xenophon himself was outraged at my efficiency and called me out personally on national television. I am often the poster coordinator in local campaigns and I think I have gotten it down to a fine art.
But that might change in the years to come and I might find myself out of a "job" at election time with a push to ban corflutes by the Liberal Party. Regardless of your view, there is no doubt that corflutes are very effective. During the last council election a Master of the District Court, after I had finished my submissions and the Master had ruled in my favor, said to me : "Mr Davis, are you running for local government? Were they your posters I see on my way to work?" To which I replied "Yes your honor, firstly thank you for not drawing on them and secondly I hope you will vote for me." After a cheerful discussion; (with opposing counsel stuck at the bar table listening to this conversation because he hadn't been dismissed yet)... the Master of the court and I discovered that he didn't live in my ward and therefore unfortunately couldn't vote for me... otherwise I am quite sure he would have!
The Few Benefits: Corflutes get the candidate's name and face in people's minds and causes them to really think about who they are going to vote for at the next election. I think they cause people to associate the polices of the party with the candidate and if they are good policies I think people are more likely to vote for that candidate on polling day. They are also quite cost effective as a campaign tool. If you were to buy that much advertising space on a billboard it would cost you a fortune. It also adds to the atmosphere of election time. One day it looks normal and then next the roads are lit up like (strange) Christmas trees. Posters are a good opening volley to the election campaign, getting volunteers out and about. They are also a warning for people not to open their doors for the next month lest they be stuck in a political discussion for 30mins with a doorknocker.
The Many Disadvantages: - They create huge visual pollution for the election period. - When people put them up they often cover signage (they arn't supposed to) that has already been affixed to the pole.
-Also some less democratically inclined political parties cut the cable ties knowing that in a strong wind the poster will fly off and fall on the road. This is an extremely dangerous but rare occurrence. That is one of the reasons why we put them up so high on the pole.
- They also create pollution, although many candidates keep them and reuse them at the next the next election but there are often thousands more bought at each election. Christopher Pyne had some from 20 years ago ... we decided that he couldn't possible put them up again. He looked unrecognizably young.
-You might argue it is good for democracy, I would say yes and no. When you paint a town red or blue it can make it very difficult for smaller candidates to get cut through. Posters are costly and require many hours to put up. To put up say 50 posters, it might take me 4-5 hours. Putting up 500 posters for an independent candidate is a very difficult task.
They also get stolen and turned into pyramids:
Perhaps times are changing now, it wont be stobbie poles that get flooded with images of your local polly but rather Facebook, Instagram and I fear TikTok. Banning corflutes will have an impact on elections in South Australia... good or bad, I'm not sure yet.
If I had a vote... I would vote to ban them.
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