One Nation candidate for Macquarie Matthew Jacobson has levelled an extraordinary accusation against Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC), saying they are unfairly removing his campaign signs and labelling him a racist.
Jacobson had put his campaign corflutes up around the Wentworth Falls and Leura areas before receiving an email from a BMCC Ranger saying that his signs had been placed illegally.
Jacobson responded saying he wasn’t going to take them down.
“One of them was questionable but the other ones I followed process, and I was really angry because [my corflutes were stolen], the Council is not being particularly nice and then they are accusing me of doing something that isn’t right and I’m assuming they are not doing it to the other candidates,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson called BMCC and was told his concerns would be looked at, but the rule was that candidates can only have one corflute on each property.
“I said that’s interesting because I am not noticing that from the other candidates as well, do we have a level playing field here?” Jacobson said.
BMCC said they asked Jacobson to remove signs that were placed illegally.
“Council wrote to Mr Jacobson advising that he remove signs which had been placed on private property without the permission of the property owners,” a spokesperson for BMCC said.
When Jacobson decided to run for the federal seat of Macquarie, he reached out to the BMCC Mayor Mark Greenhill to introduce himself.
“It was interesting because I was holding out the olive branch to say hello and try to see how I could work with him and find some mutual things we want to cover and he said, ‘You’re a racist and you represent a racist party’ and he hung up the phone on me,” Jacobson said.
“When I complained, because that is against the code of conduct, they basically said too bad, too sad.”
In response Mayor Greenhill acknowledged the conversation between the pair but confirmed he did not call Jacobson a racist.
“Mr Jacobson needs a closer association with the truth it seems,” Greenhill said.
“My advice to him is to follow the signage rules like everyone else.”
Adding to Jacobson’s concerns is his corflutes that are put up are being either stolen or defaced with Nazi imagery, something he said just empowers him to continue on.
“It’s made me feel empowered and it’s encouraged me because I think that anybody who has had a really great idea or wanted to achieve something that’s been bold usually faces a lot of adversity,” Jacobson said.
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.