Opinion: End the lies, voters don’t like being played for mugs

The history of Australian politics is littered with examples of slippery words, half-truths and outright lies, writes Paul Williams.

People don’t like being lied to or misled. Whether it’s by a romantic partner, a politician or even your local publican, no Australian likes being treated like a mug.

Yet the history of Australian politics is littered with examples of slippery words, half-truths and outright lies – all told so often and so convincingly that governments and history have been changed by voters who fell for furphies.

Way back in 1901 we were told non-British migrants would destroy our way of life. Then in the 1930s we were told the only way out of economic depression was to cut public spending and increase household pain. US President Roosevelt’s New Deal proved otherwise. And in 1966 we were told that if we didn’t stop the communists in Vietnam they’d be in marching down Brisbane’s Queen St before we knew it.

In 1995 John Howard told us he would “never, ever” legislate a GST (but he did), and in 2001 the Liberals told us refugees were throwing their children overboard to blackmail their way into Australia. In 2010, Julia Gillard told us there would be no carbon tax under any government she led (but there was) and, in 2016, Labor told us the Coalition would privatise Medicare.

The Coalition got its revenge in 2019 when it claimed a minor change to franking credit rules were a secret Labor “retirement tax” (ramped up to “death duties” by some), and that electric cars would kill the great Aussie weekend.

Former prime minister John Howard

Let’s not forget Clive Palmer’s warning that ballot papers marked in pencil can be erased by election officials (which the AEC found zero evidence of), or One Nation’s weird logic that the “Safe Schools” program – designed to teach tolerance toward the LGBTQIA community – would force boys to wear dresses to school.

And then we have the whoppers of the recent referendum: the Voice to Parliament would see Aussies lose their homes, their government go bankrupt paying reparations, allow the United Nations to govern Australia and – my favourite – see Bunnings increase its prices.

We all know Australia has very clear laws preventing someone from selling aspirin and calling it an anti-ageing drug. But you might be surprised there are no federal laws (and state laws only in South Australia and the ACT) preventing the telling of the most outrageous political porkies or delivering misleading statements during heated election campaigns. And that’s despite 87 per cent of all voters (including 83 per cent of recent “No” referendum voters) wanting laws to prevent campaign lies or misleading statements, according to a recent Australian Institute poll.

That’s why every Australian should pay close attention to a couple of pieces of legislation now in the federal parliamentary mix. The first is a Labor bill designed to give the Australian Communications and Media Authority the ability to force social media operators to stamp out “false, misleading or deceptive” content that is “reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm”.

After zealots attacked the legislation for a lack of protection for “religious” beliefs, the bill was shelved pending revision. But should religious adherents really be given a free pass to tell lies or mislead on social media?

Former prime minister Julia Gillard

A second piece of legislation, Teal independent Zali Steggall’s “Stop the Lies” bill, is designed specifically to prevent pollies lying during campaigns. This is the second airing of Steggall’s bill after it failed before the last election. Prompted by the nonsense trotted out during the Voice to Parliament debate, Steggall had no option but to reintroduce her proposal, especially since the Albanese government has been dragging its feet on its own truth-in-political-advertising laws despite pledging them in 2022. Sadly, Steggall’s bill will likely fail again because governments rarely take their cues from crossbenchers.

Even so, the Albanese government knows balancing a citizen’s right to express an unpopular opinion with another’s right to remain safe – physically, financially or otherwise – on the airing of that opinion is difficult.

The United States, fresh from winning a cruel war with Great Britain, tried to get it right in 1791 with its First Constitutional Amendment. More than two centuries later, US laws seem to permit a former president to claim he won all 50 states in an election – and claim with zero evidence his victory was stolen and that his opponent is a criminal. Sadly, unconstrained speech in a social media age can do more harm than good.

To the 87 per cent who want to cull the campaign porkie before the next election, contact your federal MP’s office and ask if he or she supports truth-in-political-advertising. Tell your MP you will no longer be treated like a mug.

Paul Williams is an associate professor at Griffith University

Originally published as Opinion: End the lies, voters don’t like being played for mugs