Sandwich sign activist Danny Li is facing jail for unclear rule in state elections
Beloved Aussie activist Danny Lim has been threatened with a possible six-month prison sentence or a $6,000 fine over an obscure election rule — as he runs for state elections.
The 79-year-old, who is known on the streets of Sydney for wearing his iconic sandwich sign promoting love and happiness, is contesting a seat in the upper house.
It has been five months since Mr Lim was violently assaulted by police in the Queen Victoria Building and hospitalized with a subdural hematoma (blood clot) in the brain.
The incident sparked outrage and supporters protested Mr Lim’s harsh treatment outside police headquarters in Surry Hills.
An internal police investigation into the arrest attempt was announced.
Mr Lim was not charged with any wrongdoing and is now running for his fourth run for a seat in the NSW Upper House, on a campaign of social justice and ‘a fair start’.
This week, however, Mr Lim was told he could go to jail for a fine of thousands of dollars over an apparent anomaly in his so-called election materials, with the popular figure saying he feels he has been the victim of a clandestine attempt to ‘ him in.
Danny Lim was standing in his favorite spot when he was photographed on Monday, and the photo was sent to the AEC, which now says he could be fined or jailed for breaking 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, Mr Lim stood on a street in Newtown with an old campaign poster that read ‘had enuf, Vote 1 Danny Lim’.
He carried a sandwich sign as usual, this time with new campaign slogans: ‘Stop this brutality now’ with a cartoon by Sydney artist Shakespeare of Danny Lim’s attempted police arrest last November.
Mr Lim said he posed as usual smiling for a man who caught him in the street, but the photo ended up with the Australian Electoral Commission who called him two days later and said he was breaking electoral law.
“This guy called and I thought someone was playing a prank and he called himself a senior researcher and told me to use words in my poster on an A-frame.
Last November, Danny Lim hit the tiles at the QVB after police tried to arrest him on his way to a phone shop, wearing his signature sandwich sign
The official told Mr Lim that he could write the words and his address on the material, but that the “maximum penalty for a person who fails to comply is 20 penalty units or 6 months’ imprisonment, or both”.
‘I don’t have an A frame? he said he would send me the handbook for candidates.’
What the AEC official told Mr. Lim was that under Article 186 of the Electoral Actbetween March 6, 2023 and 6:00 PM on Election Day, Saturday, March 25, 2023, all election materials must clearly display the words “Authorised by Danny Lim” and his address.
It’s the same wording that can be seen on major party election posters, or at the end of TV campaign commercials.
The person who photographed Mr Lim in Newtown and sent the photo of him to the AEC had reported him for allegedly breaking the law.
He was told that a social media page such as Facebook and Twitter must also include “the name and address of the person on whose behalf the material is published or distributed, must be published or distributed in a manner that, where appropriate, , is prescribed by the regulations’.
Mr Lim told Daily Mail Australia that in every previous election he had no such written authority on election posters and that his sandwich board was ‘not an A-frame’ and was only part of his clothing.
Danny Lim, now 79 years old, was hospitalized with a subdural hematoma, or blood clot in the brain, and has since suffered from PTSD related to the incident
The incident sparked outrage and supporters staged 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 after a sandwich board with his new slogans and “Vote 1 Danny Lim” was made up, he went to his “favorite corner” in Newtown on Monday morning.
‘It’s what I’m wearing,’ he said, ‘it’s not election stuff, it’s my uniform. “Authorized by Danny Lim?” Why should I write something? I do not accept donations from anyone.
‘I don’t have election posters and leaflets and I don’t print voting cards because I don’t have the money for them.
‘The picture was taken in front of Newtown station and Enmore Road, that’s my favorite spot, I’ve been standing there for years.
“This is very cloak and dagger. I’ve never had any problems and if they fine me I’ll go to jail because I can’t pay the fine.
“At least I’m being taken care of in prison.”
Mr Lim, who still suffers from PTSD from his violent arrest, wept as he spoke about what he hoped he could bring 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 signature sayings, ‘peace, love and respect, mother’
“My grandmother raised me. She taught me about life, always turning the other cheek.
“I love Australia, Australia gives me a chance and I care about the future. I campaign for everything, but more for social justice.’
Mr Lim said that even after being treated by police, he did not blame the officers or police and carried supportive posters as he did for the two Queensland officers killed in the Wiembilla Doomsday ambush last December.
Mr Lim, who has met just about every NSW Prime Minister over the decades – “Gladys (Berejiklian), I knew Barry O’Farrell very well, even Johnny Howard, always come and talk to me” – does not belong to any political party and campaign with his own team of independent candidates.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I come very close to a win. I get the biggest support from people in the eastern suburbs and Newtown, everyone is waking up.
“If I’m emotional,” he said, bursting into tears, “it’s because I have a little post-stress, but I always forgive, I never learned to hate.”
I made a sign (to the two officers who arrested him) “each police is an individual, my deepest condolences to lady and man”. It’s a very simple sign.’
If Mr. Lim is elected and doesn’t go to jail for electoral law issues, he can promise something that perhaps no other candidate can.
“I have nothing to hide, I never do anything for any financial gain. Too much money is a burden,” he said.
“I am an open book.”
If you would like to discuss this, please do not hesitate to contact Peter Baragry at 9290 5429.
Kind regards,
Peter Baragry | Senior Detective
NSW Electoral Commission