The Australian Football League has warned unions "off campaigning at the footy after police were called to move on activists targeting fans at an AFL match," according to Ellen Whinnett of the HERALD SUN. Unionists "ambushed fans at the gates of Aurora Stadium in Launceston at the Hawthorn-Carlton game" on Feb. 18. They were "gathering names and phone numbers for a petition, which would later be used to build a secret database for the Federal election campaign." AFL spokesperson Patrick Keane said, "The AFL does not permit petitions or political activities outside our games. Our game is not a place to make political statements." Conditions of entry to a game "ban the handing out of political material." In Victoria, political campaigning in the immediate vicinity of sports stadiums "is banned under the Major Sporting Events Act 2009." Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson said that Geelong fans had been staked out by unionists who "acted in breach of the law by handing out flyers in the Kardinia Park precinct" (HERALD SUN, 4/5).
