The Labor government’s proposal to regulate “truth” in political advertising could risk becoming a tool to shut down free debate, a Melbourne-based think tank has argued.
The comments came in response to the centre-left government signalling that in 2023 it would consider introducing “truth in political advertising” laws as part of a major shake-up to Australian election rules.
Under the proposal, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) would have the power to decide whether electoral advertising was “untrue” or “misleading” and potentially impose fines or criminal charges.
It is modelled on the South Australian laws, administered by the AEC, with the committee citing research from the left-leaning Australia Institute on how many voters were exposed to misleading ads in the 2022 election.
This was one of the recommendations put forward by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’s (JSCEM) interim report for its inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 election.
“The growth in mis- and disinformation is widespread,” Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth told Parliament in December 2023.
“It’s not only on our shores but occurring in democracies around the world. Elections and referenda are a contest of ideas. However, the truth must be at the core.”
New Rule Would Shut Down Debate: IPA
But John Storey, director of law and policy at the Institute of Public Affairs, described the proposal as “nothing more than a brazen attack on free speech.”He said it was “fundamentally designed to shut down political opposition to the agendas of the federal government and the political elite.”
The AEC’s role should be to ensure electoral rolls are accurate, elections are run efficiently and fairly, and votes are counted accurately and timely, rather than influencing debate, he added.
“No government agency should have the power to decide what is true or false, and to silence one side of a debate. This is especially the case when political bias can easily be anticipated.”
The sentiment was echoed by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who said in 2023 that the AEC “has no jurisdiction over the honesty of political parties, politicians and political candidates.”
Mr. Storey said that as bureaucrats tend to be progressive-leaning, they “cannot be trusted to be neutral umpires in political debates.”
This was highlighted in the result of The Voice referendum in 2023.
While an overwhelming 60.1 percent of Australians voted “No” to establishing a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, the result was reversed in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)—home to many government officials—an area that registered a 61.3 percent “Yes” vote.
Media coverage of The Voice has also been scrutinised for its lack of impartiality.
According to an internal Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report, the public broadcaster gave more than twice the amount of coverage to content in favour of The Voice proposal to change the Constitution, than it did to negative or undecided views.
Australian Institute Welcomes Proposal
The Australian Institute has welcomed the government’s “truth in political advertising” proposal, saying that its research showed the majority of Australians support the law.“In Australia, it is perfectly legal to lie in a political ad—and it shouldn’t be,” says Bill Browne, director of the Democracy and Accountability Program.
“The committee’s support for truth in political advertising laws should spur Parliament to pass these laws before the next election, to pre-empt a fake news free-for-all.”
