VICTORIA'S electoral umpire has been asked to investigate Labor advertisements attacking Liberal leader Ted Baillieu's role in the sale of public schools by the former Kennett government.
As the opposition and government traded blows, Premier John Brumby said the advertisements for the Altona byelection simply told the truth.
The advertisements and a YouTube clip have claimed Mr Baillieu profited from the sale of an Altona primary school in the 1990s because it was sold by his real estate company.
But in a letter to the Victorian Electoral Commission, obtained by The Age, the Liberals stated the advertising material was deceptive and broke Victoria's electoral laws.
''Labor's material is false and misleading. [The Electoral Act] provides for serious penalties for misleading and deceptive conduct,'' Liberal Party state director Tony Nutt wrote in the letter.
The letter stated the school, Laverton Park Primary, was not sold by Mr Baillieu as claimed in flyers, and that the real estate company was used to sell state assets under Labor governments.
The flyer claims that Mr Baillieu backed the closure of hundreds of schools as Victorian Liberal Party president in the 1990s and his company, Baillieu Frank Knight, got the contract to sell the Laverton school.
''Laverton Park Primary School Sold $320,000 by Ted Baillieu,'' it states.
Mr Brumby said yesterday: ''Mr Baillieu mightn't like it, I'm sure he doesn't like it … [but] like it or not, that's the history of our state.''
Mr Baillieu branded the campaign, which was also used at the 2006 election, a smear and ''political thuggery''.
''Every time their failings are exposed they resort to smear,'' he said. ''It's as if there are a bunch of thugs running this state.''
Asked if he had profited from the sale of schools, Mr Baillieu said: ''These are legitimate business transactions. I couldn't tell you what the financial arrangements were.''
ALP state secretary Nick Reece, who endorsed the advertisements, said Labor would continue to campaign on the facts, and Mr Baillieu profited from the sale of the school.
Mr Baillieu yesterday used question time to attack Labor's candidate for Altona, Jill Hennessy, accusing her of helping to hide the extent of hospital waiting lists in her role as a board member of Western Health.
Mr Baillieu told Parliament that documents obtained under freedom of information showed more than 2900 patients at the Western, Sunshine and Williamstown hospitals in 2008 and last year had been put on hidden waiting lists.
Mr Brumby dismissed the accusation, saying Labor had a far better record on health services in the western suburbs.
Attorney-General Rob Hulls also accused Mr Baillieu of gross hypocrisy, saying he could not complain about the schools advertisements and then run personal attacks on Ms Hennessy.
The Altona byelection will be held on Saturday week.
■Mr Brumby is fighting a legal order requiring him to hand over documents detailing the reasons behind the departure of ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham in September.
Upper house Liberal leader David Davis has issued subpoenas to Mr Brumby and the ALP over a defamation action brought against him by Mr Newnham.
Mr Newnham is suing Mr Davis over a press release issued in May that said Mr Newnham was ''up to his neck in sleazy electoral rorts'' and should be sacked.
Email a friend