Beloved Australian activist Danny Lim has been threatened with a possible six-month jail term or a $6,000 fine over an obscure electoral rule, while he is running for office in the state election.
The 79-year-old, known on the streets of Sydney for wearing his iconic sandwich board that promotes love and happiness, is vying for a seat in the upper house.
It has been five months since Mr. Lim was violently accosted by police in the Queen Victoria Building and ended up in hospital with a subdural hematoma (blood clot) in his brain.
The incident sparked outrage and supporters held a protest against Mr. Lim’s harsh treatment outside police headquarters in Surry Hills.
An internal police investigation into the attempted arrest was announced.
Mr Lim was not charged with any crime and is now running for his fourth bid for a seat in the New South Wales Upper House, in a campaign for social justice and ‘a fair chance’.
However, Mr. Lim was told this week he could go to jail for a fine of thousands of dollars for an apparent anomaly in his alleged election material, and the popular figure said he feels he has been the victim of an underhanded attempt. from ‘dob’ him on.
Danny Lim was standing in his favorite spot when he was photographed on Monday, with the image sent to the AEC, which now says he could be fined or jailed for breaching Australian Electoral Law.
Despite his violent arrest by two police officers last November, Danny Lim says he supports and appreciates the police (pictured above with a police officer in Belmore Park on Australia Day this year).
On Monday, Lim was standing on a Newtown street, holding up an old campaign sign that read ‘had enough, vote 1 Danny Lim’.
As usual, he wore a sandwich board, this one bearing new campaign slogans reading “Stop this brutality now” with a caricature by Sydney artist Shakespeare of the attempted police arrest of Danny Lim last November.
Lim said he posed, as usual, smiling for a man who snapped it on the street, but the photo ended up in the hands of the Australian Electoral Commission, who called him two days later to say he was breaking Election Law.
‘This man called and I thought someone was playing a prank and he called himself a principal investigator and said I need to use words on my poster in an A frame.
Last November, Danny Lim hit the tiles at the QVB after police tried to arrest him as he made his way to a phone shop, wearing his distinctive sandwich badge.
The official told Mr. Lim that he could handwrite the words and his address on the material, but that the “maximum penalty for a non-compliant person is 20 sanction units or 6-month imprisonment, or both.”
‘Don’t I have an A-frame? he said he would send me the handbook for candidates.
What the AEC official was telling Mr. Lim was that under Article 186 of the Electoral LawBetween March 6, 2023 and 6:00 p.m. on Election Day, Saturday, March 25, 2023, all election material must clearly display the words “Authorized by Danny Lim” and his address.
It’s the same wording you see on major party election posters, or at the end of TV campaign commercials.
The person who photographed Mr. Lim in Newtown and sent the image of him to the AEC had reported him for allegedly violating the act.
He was told that a social networking page such as Facebook and Twitter must also have ‘the name and address of the person on whose instructions the material was posted or distributed, which must be posted or distributed in the manner prescribed by the rules, if applicable’. ‘.
Lim told Daily Mail Australia that in all previous elections he had no such authority written on any election poster and that his sandwich board was “not an A-frame” and was just part of his clothing.
Danny Lim, now 79, was admitted to hospital with a subdural hematoma, or blood clot in the brain, and has since suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the incident.
The incident sparked outrage and supporters held a protest (above) against Mr. Lim’s harsh treatment outside police headquarters in Surry Hills.
He had paid $500 to register his nomination as a candidate and, once a sandwich board was made for himself with his new slogans and ‘Vote 1 Danny Lim’, he went to his ‘favourite corner’ in Newtown on Monday morning wearing it.
‘It’s what I’m wearing,’ he said, ‘it’s not electoral material, it’s my uniform. “Authorized by Danny Lim?” Why should he write a thing? I do not accept donations from anyone.
‘I don’t have election posters or brochures and I don’t print any voting cards because I don’t have the money to do so.
‘The photo was taken in front of Newtown station and Enmore Road, that’s my favorite place, I’ve been standing there for years.
This is very swashbuckling. I have never had any problems before and if I get a ticket I will go to jail because I can’t pay the ticket.
‘At least in jail they’ll take care of me.’
Mr. Lim, who is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his violent arrest, wept as he spoke about what he hoped to give back to the community if elected and about his childhood.
Born on the same day in 1944 as former Prime Minister Paul Keating, Mr. Lim’s father “died a day before I was born, my mother died four months later.”
Online election campaign for activist Danny Lim with one of his trademark sayings, ‘peace, love and respect, mother’
‘My grandmother raised me. She taught me about life, always turn the other cheek.
‘I love Australia, Australia gives me a chance and I worry about the future. I am campaigning for many things, but more for social justice.’
Lim said that even after his handling by police, he did not blame officers or police and used signs of support, as he did for the two Queensland officers killed in the Wieambilla Doomsday ambush last December. .
Mr Lim, who has met almost every NSW Prime Minister in recent decades: “Gladys (Berejiklian), I knew Barry O’Farrell very well, even Johnny Howard, they always come and talk to me “. party and is campaigning with his own team of independent candidates.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m very, very close to winning, I get the most support from the people in the Eastern Suburbs and Newtown, they’re all waking up.
“If I’m emotional,” she said through tears, “it’s because I have a little post-stress, but I always forgive, I never learned to hate.”
I signaled (to the two arresting officers) “each cop is individual, my condolences to the lady and man.” It is a very simple signal.
If Lim is elected and avoids jail on Election Law issues, he can promise something that perhaps no other candidate can.
‘I have nothing to hide, I never do anything for financial gain. Too much money is a burden,’ he said.
I’m an open book.
If you need to discuss this, please do not hesitate to contact Peter Baragry on 9290 5429.
Sincerely,
Pedro Baragry | principal investigator
New South Wales Electoral Commission