Electoral Commissioner v McQuestin

In this case, the Electoral Commissioner brought an action against Charles David McQuestin for contraventions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth), specifically s 321D(5). Mr McQuestin, the State Director of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia during the 2022 federal election campaign, failed to ensure that particulars in three newspaper advertisements published in the Geelong Advertiser were legible at a distance at which the communication was intended to be read. The primary legal issue was the determination of the appropriate form of declarations of contraventions and the calculation of civil penalties. The court had to decide whether each publication of a contravening advertisement constituted a separate contravention or if the contraventions were part of a single course of conduct.

The court found that Mr McQuestin's principal culpability arose at the time the contravening advertisements were approved. It held that the number of publications of the advertisements by the Geelong Advertiser was a relevant factor but should be seen as part of a single course of conduct. Consequently, the court imposed aggregate penalties, applying the course of conduct and totality principles. The court concluded that an overall aggregate penalty of $40,000 was appropriate. The court ordered Mr McQuestin to pay the penalty and the costs of the proceeding, subject to the possibility of variation by either party within a specified timeframe.