We’re sticking with our copycat cleat campaign for one simple reason:
THEY'LL CLEAT CHEAT AGAIN!
The gloves are now off in our campaign to force Graham Quirk and the LNP to never again use the council “copycat cleat” that blighted the recent council election campaign and seriously tainted their victory.
We now declare a simple truth: they cheated. It’s that plain. And this paper believes the vast majority of our readers would agree.
We’ve been asking the Lord Mayor a simple question for months: why did he and his Team Quirk candidates use what to most people is a pattern of the yellow and blue blocks indistinguishable from the official city council cleat that must not be used for political purposes. The Lord Mayor hasn’t provided an answer to why his party did that because there simply is not a logical and reasonable answer to give.
It was mean and tricky politics and by their actions, the Lord Mayor and his candidates thumbed their noses at the ratepayers they are supposed to serve. Their message: you might have to follow both the spirit and letter of council rules, but if there’s a vote to be had, we can do what we bloody well like! And by their ongoing silence on this issue, they clearly don’t give a toss about fairness and playing by the rules.
And it’s why we can make this fearless prediction: they’ll do it again in 2016 because it’s too damned effective not to!
We’ve been asking the Lord Mayor a simple question for months: why did he and his Team Quirk candidates use what to most people is a pattern of the yellow and blue blocks indistinguishable from the official city council cleat that must not be used for political purposes. The Lord Mayor hasn’t provided an answer to why his party did that because there simply is not a logical and reasonable answer to give.
It was mean and tricky politics and by their actions, the Lord Mayor and his candidates thumbed their noses at the ratepayers they are supposed to serve. Their message: you might have to follow both the spirit and letter of council rules, but if there’s a vote to be had, we can do what we bloody well like! And by their ongoing silence on this issue, they clearly don’t give a toss about fairness and playing by the rules.
And it’s why we can make this fearless prediction: they’ll do it again in 2016 because it’s too damned effective not to!
The Independent understands that regardless of which party controls City Hall, the council itself has a high public-rating approval – somewhere in the vicinity of 70 to 80 per cent. Someone in the LNP ruthlessly decided to exploit that by using a design in LNP political propaganda so similar to the official cleat as it’s called that they simply cannot offer any reasonable explanation as to how it differs from the official design. The reality is that it differs very little at all, if that. And that’s exactly why the LNP designed it that way and that’s why it was used so extensively in campaign material, as shown above. And it’s why they’ll have no compunction whatsoever to do it again. The ALP will presumably – and in our view very stupidly – do the right thing and steer clear of any such image trickery and deceit. They could pay a heavy price for such honesty: when the council poll comes around and if the competition for City Hall is a much closer affair than it was this time, then there’s a very good chance that Team Quirk could get over the line via its disgraceful manipulation of such imagery and its thumbing of the nose at council rules.
That’s right: Quirk and Co will happily win the next poll not on their record, but on a ruse and a rort if that’s what it takes.
And that’s why this newspaper runs this campaign. We have a Lord Mayor who expects ratepayers to do the right thing but he can bend the rules shamelessly if there’s an extra vote to be had from it.
We believe ratepayers everywhere should view with absolute distain any politician at any level who adheres to the warped philosophy that the end justifies the means. That only makes for very, very bad politicians.
The Lord Mayor could put a stop to this right now by simply declaring that the LNP and his Team Quirk candidates will never again use a design in political material that even remotely looks like the council’s intellectual property. Sadly, he’s not going to. It’s unethical, it’s sneaky, it’s deceitful, it’s too tricky by half – but it’s also a winner for him and, sadly, he knows it.
What the Lord Mayor answered ... and what he didn’tEmail sent on 13 April:
Preface: In a letter to Chairman of Council Councillor Krista Adams on 28 October last year, the council’s CEO Colin Jensen said in response to a question as to whether the council’s cleat could be used in political material: “No. MC026 Marketing, Communications and Advertising Policy states that Council’s logo and cleat are used to indicate council program association and activity. These design elements as set out in council’s Visual Style Guide must not be used on material that is of a political nature.”
We therefore ask:
1. Was the CEO’s take on council policy correct then?
Answer: Yes
That’s right: Quirk and Co will happily win the next poll not on their record, but on a ruse and a rort if that’s what it takes.
And that’s why this newspaper runs this campaign. We have a Lord Mayor who expects ratepayers to do the right thing but he can bend the rules shamelessly if there’s an extra vote to be had from it.
We believe ratepayers everywhere should view with absolute distain any politician at any level who adheres to the warped philosophy that the end justifies the means. That only makes for very, very bad politicians.
The Lord Mayor could put a stop to this right now by simply declaring that the LNP and his Team Quirk candidates will never again use a design in political material that even remotely looks like the council’s intellectual property. Sadly, he’s not going to. It’s unethical, it’s sneaky, it’s deceitful, it’s too tricky by half – but it’s also a winner for him and, sadly, he knows it.
What the Lord Mayor answered ... and what he didn’tEmail sent on 13 April:
Preface: In a letter to Chairman of Council Councillor Krista Adams on 28 October last year, the council’s CEO Colin Jensen said in response to a question as to whether the council’s cleat could be used in political material: “No. MC026 Marketing, Communications and Advertising Policy states that Council’s logo and cleat are used to indicate council program association and activity. These design elements as set out in council’s Visual Style Guide must not be used on material that is of a political nature.”
We therefore ask:
1. Was the CEO’s take on council policy correct then?
Answer: Yes
2. Does that policy still apply, or have the rules changed?
Answer: This policy still applies. It has not changed.
3. If so, when?
Answer: N/A
4. If the rules have not changed, why are you and some of your LNP candidates using the council cleat, or a design so similar to it that any reasonable person could think they are one and the same, in political advertising material?
Answer: LNP political advertising material does not use the Council cleat or the Council logo.
Our followup questions in April
1. Do you accept that the pattern of blue and yellow blocks down the left hand side of roadside hoardings, footpath signs, candidate pamphlets, business cards and even a campaign car is so similar in look and location to the council cleat used on official council documents that any reasonable person could be mistaken for believing they are one and the same?
2. Given that the electorate has proven time and time again that it is opposed to parties that resort to tricky or sneaky campaign techniques, would you like to offer the ratepayers of Brisbane an unconditional apology for the use of a design that can be so easily mistaken by any reasonable person to be in fact the council's intellectual property?
3. If as I suspect, the answers to both of the above are going to be a blunt “no”, please explain the difference between the council cleat and the design used in LNP advertising and state why you believe there’s no likelihood at all that any reasonable ratepayer could confuse the two?
No answers provided despite repeated requests
Answer: This policy still applies. It has not changed.
3. If so, when?
Answer: N/A
4. If the rules have not changed, why are you and some of your LNP candidates using the council cleat, or a design so similar to it that any reasonable person could think they are one and the same, in political advertising material?
Answer: LNP political advertising material does not use the Council cleat or the Council logo.
Our followup questions in April
1. Do you accept that the pattern of blue and yellow blocks down the left hand side of roadside hoardings, footpath signs, candidate pamphlets, business cards and even a campaign car is so similar in look and location to the council cleat used on official council documents that any reasonable person could be mistaken for believing they are one and the same?
2. Given that the electorate has proven time and time again that it is opposed to parties that resort to tricky or sneaky campaign techniques, would you like to offer the ratepayers of Brisbane an unconditional apology for the use of a design that can be so easily mistaken by any reasonable person to be in fact the council's intellectual property?
3. If as I suspect, the answers to both of the above are going to be a blunt “no”, please explain the difference between the council cleat and the design used in LNP advertising and state why you believe there’s no likelihood at all that any reasonable ratepayer could confuse the two?
No answers provided despite repeated requests
