A series of Federal Court cases could have to be rescheduled so three judges can hear an urgent challenge to the election of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and embattled Liberal MP Gladys Liu.
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Mr Frydenberg and Ms Liu are having their election results challenged over alleged illegal conduct during the campaign involving Chinese-language posters.
The Liberal-authorised signs were displayed at polling booths in their Kooyong and Chisholm electorates in Melbourne on election day in May.
Failed Kooyong candidate Oliver Yates is spearheading the case again Mr Frydenberg, while climate campaigner Vanessa Garbett is challenging the election of Ms Liu.
Georgina Costello, who is representing the challengers, sought orders in the Federal Court on Tuesday asking for documents which might support their case to be handed over.
Chief Justice James Allsop warned he didn't want the case getting bogged down in fights over documents, instead pushing to narrow the issues at play and how many judges will be required to hear the case.
If three were required, judges would need to be pulled from other cases and the Federal Court's full list would have to be rearranged, he said.
Philip Solomon QC, for the MPs, said he had no desire to delay the case and pushed up his own timeline for filing responses to the challenge by Monday, so the case can return to court next Wednesday for another administrative hearing.
He said he did not intend to create any controversy around the supply of documents by the Liberal Party, which is not a party to the case.
Mr Yates and Ms Garbett are arguing the election signs mimicked the Australian Electoral Commission's official purple and white colours, contained no Liberal branding and did not refer to Liberal candidates by name or policies.
The words translated to: "The right way to vote: On the green ballot paper fill in 1 next to the candidate of Liberal Party and fill in the numbers from smallest to largest in the rest of the boxes".
Ms Liu has recently come under fire for her past ties to Chinese Communist Party-associated organisations.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has said it's crucial Australia's democracy is cherished and not manipulated.
"The information written in Chinese, Mandarin, on those signs, quite clearly could be viewed to be misleading," he told reporters in Bendigo on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
