Political campaign lies to be outlawed (if they’re definitely lies)

Falsehoods designed to win votes in election campaigns would be outlawed under a Labor push for tough new penalties to weed out political lies.

Senior government sources confirmed the Albanese government will seek to legislate “truth in advertising” laws in its upcoming suite of electoral reforms on which opposition MPs will imminently be briefed.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell is leading the government’s sweeping reforms to electoral laws.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Those sources, speaking anonymously because legislation has not yet been finalised, said a new unit inside the Australian Electoral Commission would be tasked with adjudicating on the truthfulness of election advertisements.

Based on a scheme in place in South Australia, the narrowly defined law will probably create powers to compel the removal of demonstrable falsehoods and would not seek to rein in opinionated or contested claims.

The laws could capture campaign messages similar to Labor’s 2016 “Mediscare” or the 2019 Coalition focus on a “death tax”.

Labor’s claims that the Turnbull government was planning a wholesale privatisation of Medicare was widely regarded as misleading as it was based on a Coalition plan to privatise an outdated payment delivery system. Similarly, Labor’s 2019 election review found it was hurt by a Coalition claim that Labor would introduce a death tax, which then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg said was “not out of the question” because the idea had previously been favoured by Labor MP Andrew Leigh and some unions, despite Labor’s repeated rejection of the policy.

Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst has previously raised a series of questions about the current proposal and questioned how truth would be established, suggesting Coalition hostility towards Labor’s proposal.

But a range of academics and transparency groups backed the rules in a parliamentary inquiry that recommended the changes last year. Special Minister of State Don Farrell signalled as far back as 2022 that Labor supported the change.

The South Australian electoral commissioner, which enforces that state’s truth regime, has previously said the laws had a sobering effect on campaign tactics, reducing the number of misleading claims.

Under the South Australian laws, groups can be fined up to $25,000 for false political advertising. The rules apply to physical advertising such as billboards and leaflets as well as digital, broadcast and social media ads.

At the 2022 South Australian election, 117 allegations of misleading advertisements were made, leading to 11 requests for cessation and two warnings. In one case, Labor was ordered to withdraw an ad claiming “ambulance ramping is worse than ever” because wait times for ambulances outside hospitals had actually been declining from a peak for months.

Similarly, the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy told the parliamentary inquiry: “The very existence of such legislation will act to curb excesses of mis- and dis-information by making clear the expectation for campaigns to focus on policy and the quality of candidates”.

While similar laws exist in the ACT and Ireland and have the backing of a range of civil society groups, the Greens and teal MPs, the prospect was condemned by Indigenous activist Nyunggai Warren Mundine, who was accused of lies in the campaign against the Voice to parliament.

Facebook suspended its relationship with RMIT fact-checkers in part over No campaign criticism of the university’s decision to use Yes campaigners to debunk the claims of those opposed to the Voice.

Mundine said this was an example of the complexity in categorically declaring an argument true or false.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine was a leading figure in the No campaign.Credit: Dan Peled

“My concern is this is going to be an attack on free speech,” he said, arguing Australians were smart enough to pick out a lie.

“This is the most ridiculous proposal. During the Voice, we had some people challenging us saying ‘youse were lying’, and I said ‘explain the lie’, and they couldn’t.”

In a worrying finding, a federal government survey on Australians’ attitudes to politics found 72 per cent of 6000 respondents believe “most people don’t understand when information in the media is misleading or fake during elections”.

The survey, conducted last year by the Australian Public Service Commission’s Trust and Transparency Unit, found 53 per cent agreed Australia’s democracy was on the right track while nearly half disagreed or had no view.

About 50 per cent believed corruption was widespread in institutions and 80 per cent believed it was worth expending effort resolving problems with our democracy.

Only half the respondents expressed trust in political parties, prompting assistant minister for the public service Patrick Gorman to emphasise Labor’s agenda on anti-corruption and enhancing the public service.

“Australians deserve to understand the impact of the policies their tax dollars pay for, and the evidence which proves it,” he said.

“And they deserve elected officials who act with integrity, alongside a strong and capable public sector.”

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