<
https://theconversation.com/misleading-and-false-election-ads-are-legal-in-australia-we-need-national-truth-in-political-advertising-laws-249279>
"The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the
Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping hole in Australia’s electoral
laws, which allow for misleading political advertisements in the lead-up to an
election campaign. It’s all entirely legal and is already being exploited to
try to shape the outcome of the coming federal election.
Conservative activist group Advance Australia has widely distributed digitally
altered flyers attacking independent Alex Dyson, who is challenging senior
frontbencher Dan Tehan.
It’s part of a campaign to damage Dyson’s electoral prospects after he helped
slash the Liberal Party’s margin in the seat at the last election to less than
4%.
The material depicts Dyson ripping open his shirt in a “Superman” pose, to
reveal a t-shirt bearing the official Greens party logo.
Dyson is not a Greens candidate. So why are the ads permissible? And what does
it tell us about the urgent need for truth in political advertising laws to
prohibit material that lies to voters?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
