This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The electoral watchdog has formally warned the Liberal party about the lack of sourcing on party ads appearing on major news websites.

Ads trumpeting the Liberal party’s tax plan have appeared across major news websites this week, as the party makes a last-ditch attempt to woo voters.

But in ads appearing on the Sydney Morning Herald, the New Daily and specialist health news site Medical Daily, the party has failed to properly authorise the content, a basic breach of electoral laws.

The failing prompted public complaints to the Australian Electoral Commission, which has now issued a warning to the party.

“The AEC has contacted the Liberal party about the authorisation of the digital banner advertising that it has run on several online media sites,” a spokesman told Guardian Australia. “The Liberal party has undertaken to include the required authorisation details on digital banner advertising for the rest of the campaign.”

Political advertising is weakly regulated in Australia and rules are enforced only sporadically, usually in response to public complaints or media tip-offs.

But all political parties, campaigners and third parties must comply with one basic requirement: their political ads must be properly authorised. Authorisations are designed to tell vote voters who is behind the content, and help the AEC monitor content.

Electoral law requires authorisations be included within online banner ads. If there is no space inside the ad, it is sufficient for the ad to link to a website or social media page that contains the authorisation.

Play Video 1:27 Liberals unleash online scare campaign on new Labor 'taxes' – video

Dean Haywood was one of those who complained about the Liberal ads. He said they appeared strange, using the Liberal logo in a different way to other ads. Haywood was unsure whether he was looking at ads from the Liberal party itself, or some other group campaigning on their behalf.

“The logo used in the ad is slightly different is size from the official logo and also has colours reversed,” he said. “I have not seen this in other Liberal ads.”

The Liberal party is far from alone in failing to properly authorise political advertising. The main union body in Victoria, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, received a similar warning from the AEC earlier in the campaign for failing to authorise “eviction notices” it had plastered on the windows of local Liberal MPs.

Other advertising remains within the bounds of the law, but is questionable for other reasons.

ken (@vaughan_k) Why can't the @AusElectoralCom do anything about #Dutton scaring voters in his electoral with false 'Final Notice Rent Increase' and 'Mortgage Notice Revaluation'? #auspol #AusVotes19 #qanda pic.twitter.com/NTjunO8jng

In Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson, voters complained of being sent an envelope marked “Final notice: rent increase”. Inside, Liberal campaign material warned that Labor’s taxes would increase rents.

The Liberal party was contacted for comment.