Gordon Bradbery to challenge Noreen Hay's election win

Independent Gordon Bradbery will launch a court challenge today against Labor MP Noreen Hay's state election win in Wollongong.His extraordinary bid to overturn the result follows unresolved incidents on polling day, including the discovery of fraudulent how-to-vote cards, the placing of allegedly unauthorised posters and new claims of people voting more than once."I want the outcome of the election to be transparent and questions clarified, so that whoever represents us in State Parliament does so with a clear mandate," he said."Wollongong has been through such a period of unrest and questioning of decision-making ... the whole point of my campaign was to fight for transparency."The legal action will drag the spotlight back onto the contentious seat, which Ms Hay snatched by just 682 votes after a month of desperate, bitter campaigning from all sides.Mr Bradbery's lawyers are expected to file a petition to the Supreme Court this morning.The matter would be heard in the Court of Disputed Returns, where Mr Bradbery's team must prove that a wrongdoing occurred and that it affected the election result.The court has the power to declare that a candidate was not duly elected and that the election result is void.Mr Bradbery, who has returned to work as a minister at Wollongong’s Church on the Mall, said his team had hard evidence to support its bid.He conceded he may be left out of pocket if ordered to pay costs.Access Law Group’s David Swan will lead the challenge and will seek access to Electoral Commission records to identify any fraudulent voting patterns.Mr Swan will also seek information on how many voters cast more than one ballot.Witnesses to the how-to-vote card tampering incident have been urged to come forward.Around 800 fraudulent how-to-vote cards were found on polling day, allegedly hidden among Labor’s campaign material at the Farmborough Rd booth. It is believed some cards were handed out to voters.The cards falsely directed Liberal voters to give their second preferences to incumbent Labor MP Noreen Hay.The Electoral Commission confirmed that ALP workers were instructed to stop handing out the material.Ms Hay has strenuously denied that she or her party were involved, and yesterday insisted she was elected fair and square.‘‘If people want to pursue a legal challenge that’s entirely up to them ... but as far as I’m concerned, Labor ran a legitimate campaign and [the result] has been declared,’’ she said.‘‘The election is over and I’m getting on with the job of representing Wollongong.’’Ms Hay has previously said that any member of her team found to have been involved in the how-to-vote scandal should be expelled from the party.The Greens have also lodged a complaint over ALP posters put up on and before polling day telling people to “Just Vote 1’’.It claimed the posters did not display Labor Party branding and could have been mistaken as an official directive from electoral authorities.The ALP contends that all its material displayed at polling booths carried the Labor logo.