Chances are you’re one of the 5.4 million Australians who have gotten an unsolicited text message from Clive Palmer’s newly-rebranded United Australia Party.
It’s a party which is basically one long trolling exercise, starting with pretending that because it has registered the same name as a long-defunct precursor to the Liberal Party it has had three Australian prime ministers, including Liberal godhead Robert Menzies, and ending with the world’s dankest mobile game.
Menzies would be SO proud!
Their less than assiduous level of targeting has meant the party is sending people in WA texts promising high speed east coast rail and metropolitan residents promises of income tax cuts for regional Australia, among other things they’re never going to be in any position to deliver under any circumstances.
That being the case, you might be wondering how you – the modern, digitally-savvy mobile communications enthusiast – can opt out of Palmers largely-not-relevant-to-you texts. It has to be in breach of spam laws, right?
And the short answer is no: you can’t opt out.
Nor can you reply, as you discovered when you attempted to send a message back like “do you plan to show up in parliament, unlike last time?” or “pay your former workers” or “new phone, who dis?”.
The reason is that UAP isn’t technically attempting to sell you anything and therefore isn’t bound by the usual consumer laws governing electronic communication, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. That includes abiding by the Do Not Call register.
The Australian Electoral Commission has also confirmed that political communications are protected and they have no power to restrict them. And you can register a complaint at the ACMA, but there’s nothing they can really do.
So what can you do? Your best bet is to encourage our (actual) pollies to change the laws around political communications in Australia.
Maybe some sort of mass texting campaign would work?