Signs promoting a former journalist turned federal political candidate can be displayed by residents in Melbourne's bayside suburbs despite no election date being set, a judge has ruled.
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Ex-ABC reporter Zoe Daniel is running as an independent in a bid to knock Liberal MP Tim Wilson out of the lower house seat of Goldstein.
Her campaign manager, Keith Badger, went to Victoria's Supreme Court to confirm if election signs promoting Ms Daniel were allowed under the Bayside Planning Scheme after corflutes in front yards were challenged.
On Wednesday, Justice John Dixon ruled that the election, due in May, was an event regardless of whether or not a writ had been issued by the governor-general.
Signs could be displayed, but only for three months and not for more than 14 days after the election, he said.
He also issued an injunction stopping Bayside City Council from issuing fines or beginning enforcement proceedings unless the signs were displayed for longer than the three-month period, or after the 14 days following the election.
Ms Daniel told AAP the backflip in the council's advice on the signs, following a complaint after her campaign was twice told the signs were allowed, justified their decision to seek clarity in court.
"I've always approached it very much on the legal point - this is the advice we were given, that advice changed," she said.
On whether a complaint about the signs had backfired, Ms Daniel said she couldn't say.
"I think what it does reflect is that the campaign's having an impact. There are lots of signs up and making a complaint was perhaps an attempt to cut that down," she said.
Bayside City Council boss Mick Cummins told AAP in a statement that the council welcomed the ruling.
He said residents previously told their signage was unlawful were now advised they could display political signage.
Mr Wilson told AAP his own signs would be going up in the coming weeks.
"We have only ever wanted a consistent council rule that applies to all candidates equally but didn't want to waste ratepayers' money going to court," he said.
"Now we have a consistent ruling we can get on with erecting our signs in the coming weeks, just as Simon Holmes a Court's campaign to buy our community's voice has been doing for month."
Mr Holmes a Court, a clean energy campaigner behind the Climate 200 group, has amassed a war chest of $7 million from more than 9000 donors, which is being used to support a series of community-selected independent campaigns.
Australian Associated Press
