The first page of the flyer. On the reverse side of the flyer, a series of slogans are printed urging people not to vote Labor "if you want to protect family value and future" and "if you do not want your children become homosexuality". It also advises a vote against Labor if "you do not want your children to learn how to sponke their monkeys". The Chinese text underneath translates as a warning to vote against Labor if a parent does not want their children to be taught by teachers at school how to masturbate. The flyer also warns of children having their "genders muddled". The flyers do not contain any indication of who distributed them.

The second page of the flyer. The general secretary of NSW Labor, Kaila Murnain, told Fairfax Media: "We have had reports of this false and highly offensive flyer being circulated in parts of western and south western Sydney. As local government elections are underway in NSW, and the flyer is unauthorised, we have made a complaint today to the NSW Electoral Commission". She said complaints had also been made about alleged incidents in Strathfield, "where it has been reported that Liberal volunteers are saying similarly offensive falsehoods as people cast their vote at pre-poll booths". A spokesman for the NSW Liberal Party said the organisation "does not condone the offensive content of these unauthorised flyers. The party repudiates any suggestions that it had authorised the production or distribution of this material". "We note that this matter has been referred to the NSW Electoral Commission, and support it being fully investigated."

It is an offence under the NSW Electorates and Elections Act to print, publish or distribute electoral material, such as how-to-vote cards, pamphlets, handbills and posters, that do not show the name and address of the person authorising the advertisement, and the name and place of business of the printer. It is also an offence to publish misleading material. Fairfax Media has been sent photographs of the flyer. The office of federal MP Linda Burney, who holds the seat of Barton within which the flyers are being distributed, has also confirmed it has an actual copy in its possession. In a statement, Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann said: "Electoral laws do include rules about misleading and deceptive behaviour, but this relates only to communications that mislead people about the way in which a ballot paper is actually marked, not the accuracy of a message more broadly. "Those rules and other protections applying to elections, such as authorisation rules, do not at this point cover the Australian Marriage Law Survey," Senator Cormann said. "As we have said we want this process to be fair and the government is exploring in good faith how we can complement existing legal protections under current laws further. "We expect to put forward a bill to provide for additional legal safeguards, to complement existing legal protections and to support the fair and proper conduct of the Australian Marriage Law Survey after the High Court's hearings."

The postal survey is being challenged in the High Court on Tuesday and Wednesday. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has previously pleaded with both sides of the same-sex marriage argument to engage in respectful debate.