The people of Kiama must be sighing with relief that after the turbulent reign of former MP and convicted rapist Gareth Ward, so far the biggest stink in the byelection triggered by his resignation is good old-fashioned corflute wars.

Do spare a thought, though, for teal candidate Kate Dezarnaulds. Independents have a rough trot running campaigns without the financial backing of the major parties to fund their T-shirts, stickers, Facebook ads and dog bandanas.

Independent candidate Kate Dezarnaulds.Credit: Janie Barrett

Sure, she has the backing of Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200, but CBD spies tell us her campaign’s dollar figure isn’t coming close to the spend on big ticket federal fights.

Penny-pinching Dezarnaulds decided to dust off her election material from her unsuccessful federal bid for Gilmore this year for her byelection campaign and save some cash on printing.

A thrifty way to recycle old tat, or something more sinister? Some were asking if there are potential breaches of NSW election funding rules here.

An electoral commission spokesman told us it is not an offence to reuse election material if it is properly authorised.

Dezarnaulds says her campaign is fully compliant with the rules. She said she’s had a good chat with the pencil-pushers of the NSW Electoral Commission and that she has restickered and reauthorised her bright yellow posters.

“We spent a lot of money on disgusting plastic things that were a necessary evil, so we will proudly reuse them to get the most out of it,”........

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