It’s happening in Newcastle, too: scroll down
A woman who attempted to sell her same-sex marriage postal survey vote on a number of Launceston Facebook pages at the weekend could face a harsh penalty.
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The post, which was first seen about 12.40pm on Sunday, was only online for a few minutes.
A spokeswoman from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said submitting any postal survey form that had been bought or sold would likely be an offence against the Census and Statistics Act 1905 or the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
“The offence against the Census and Statistics Act 1905 carries a maximum penalty of $2,100,” she said.
“The Criminal Code offence carries a maximum penalty of 12 months imprisonment.”
She said the ABS had proactively contacted several online marketplaces, including eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba and Gumtree to prevent sales.
“To date eBay and Facebook have confirmed listing survey forms or survey responses for sale would not comply with their policies and they will block and remove any such listings,” the spokeswoman said.
Postal plebiscite forms for sale on Newcastle buy, sell swap Facebook page
An
offer to sell almost two dozen postal plebiscite forms has hit a Newcastle social media marketplace,
The post, uploaded by an account int he name Hayley Mattiacci, was sent to the Newcastle Herald by numerous readers after it was posted to a buy, sell and swap page on social media.
“I’ve been collecting ballot papers from all my neighbours,” the original post states.
“I have 22 in total. I’m sure they didn’t want them anyway.”
The price is listed as $150, although it is unclear whether that is for all the survey forms or each individual one.
The post has since been removed and the account behind it rendered inaccessible.
Newcastle police duty officer Chief Inspector Trevor Shiels said the postal plebiscite had not been identified as a significant issue for the city’s police.