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Howard lends his voice to bombardment of robocalls, texts sent to Nicholls voters

By Max Stainkamph

May 19, 2022

Enjoying himself: Former prime minister John Howard at the Liberal Party campaign launch in Brisbane on Sunday, May 15. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) Photo by MICK TSIKAS

“Hello, it’s John Howard calling from Sydney for the Liberal Party.”

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A familiar voice greeted Nicholls voters this week as robocalls from the Coalition continued to bombard voters across the region and the country.

Former prime minister John Howard hit the phones to plead with voters to return the Coalition to power for a fourth term and warn them not to vote for independent candidates.

“A vote for an independent would risk a hung parliament, which would mean gridlock and be disastrous for our country,” Mr Howard said in the call.

“Mr Albanese has not presented a credible alternative.”

There was no authorisation at the end of the message.

It’s the latest in a long string of robocalls and text messages sent to people across Nicholls from the Coalition campaign, most of which has been spearheaded by the Nationals and targeted specifically at independent Rob Priestly.

Mr Priestly has previously reported some Nationals campaign material to the Australian Electoral Commission for not following proper authorisation guidelines.

Mr Priestly said he had sent no unauthorised text messages or phone calls to the public.