A Labor bid to shut down Liberal Party advertising attacking leader Peter Malinauskas over the closure of a hospital in a key marginal seat has been knocked back by South Australia's electoral commissioner.
Correspondence obtained by ABC News shows Labor was concerned statements made in January on a printed flyer and in broadcast advertisements, produced by the Liberals, breached South Australia's Electoral Act.
Labor complained to the Electoral Commission SA that statements of fact, including "Peter and Labor's Health Record … the Repat closed" and "As Labor Health Minister Pete Closed the Repat", were inaccurate and misleading.
It argued the decision to implement Labor's Transforming Health policy, which included the closure and sale of the Repat hospital, at Daw Park in Adelaide's south, was announced by then health minister Jack Snelling and premier Jay Weatherill in March 2015.
The complaint — lodged just weeks out from the upcoming state election — pointed out that Mr Malinauskas was not involved in the decision and, while he was Health Minister at the time of the site's closure in 2017, that did not mean he was responsible for the shutdown.
But in a letter to the Liberal Party, electoral commissioner Mick Sherry found when the statements made in the ads were read "in their full context", they were not inaccurate or misleading "to a material extent".
Treasurer Rob Lucas said Labor could not run away from its record, and the electoral commissioner's decision had left the party "with egg on its face".
"They [Labor] are obviously worried about this particular advertising campaign.
"They are concerned that the people of South Australia are being reminded of something Mr Malinauskas wants them to forget.
"He was the minister there when the Repat was closed. He did nothing about it. He defended the decisions."
Mr Malinauskas accused the Liberal Party of engaging in "cute politics" over its attacks.
"The reason why the Liberal Party and Steven Marshall are so utterly obsessed about critiquing us is because they've got no policy of their own," he said.
Mr Malinauskas today said closing the Repat was the wrong thing to do, adding: "Political parties learn from their mistakes."
"And I put closing the Repat fairly and squarely in the getting things wrong category."
Complaint is one of several
While unable to comment on specific complaints, Mr Sherry described the provisions to deal with issues such as this in South Australia's Electoral Act as "very unique in Australia".
He said the commission had already received "a number" of complaints during this campaign about misleading advertising.
"We receive information from the complainant. We then speak to the other party to determine their version of events," Mr Sherry said.
"I then have to make a decision whether it's misleading or not.
"We engage the assistance of the crown solicitor's office to provide legal advice where necessary."
The Repat now sits in the heart of the marginal electorate of Elder.
Liberal MP Carolyn Power defeated Labor's Annabel Digance to take the seat at the 2018 election.
The poll was held in the months after the last patient moved from the Daws Road site.
Returning services to the Repat was a key Liberal promise before the last election and a policy it has pursued in office.
Ms Power is trying to retain the seat and hold off Labor rival Nadia Clancy.
However she lost more than half of her margin after a redraw of the seat's boundaries ahead of this month's election.
Labor has already made more than $1 billion in election promises for the state's health system, many of which are designed to help elevate ambulance ramping outside public hospitals.
Last week, the Liberals promised a new 24-bed geriatric mental health unit would be built at the Repat if the party was returned to office at a cost of $29 million.
Record number of voters enrolled
New data released from the Electoral Commission reveals a record number of South Australians have enrolled to vote at the election.
More than 1.26 million people are now on the electoral roll, a 5.4 per cent increase in the number of electors who registered to vote ahead of the 2018 election.
Mr Sherry said the commission had expanded its enrolment campaigns in recent months beyond advertising.
"We've also done some targeting towards groups like the homeless sector, Aboriginal groups and youth," he said.
"In particular people between the ages of 18 and 24 are under-represented on the roll."
While 106,000 people have already applied to submit postal votes, almost double the amount had applied to do it at the same time ahead of the last election.
