There are calls for the Tasmanian Government to follow the lead of the ACT and South Australia and introduce truth in political advertising laws as part of its donation disclosure reforms.
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A joint submission from the Human Rights Law Centre, Australian Conservation Foundation and Australia Institute made a range of recommendations to Tasmania's draft laws, including restricting parties' ability to publish misleading or deceptive advertising.
At the moment, political parties in Tasmania are only prevented from misleading voters about how to cast their vote, distributing how-to-vote cards and publishing the likeness of a candidate without their consent.
Labor fell foul of the latter clause at the recent state election in an advertisement that featured a bald-headed man, which electoral commissioner Andrew Hawkey deemed to be a "likeness" of Premier Peter Gutwein and could constitute a breach.
The ACT passed laws last year that include fines of us to $8000 for individuals and $40,500 for corporations for false advertising, with the electoral commissioner given the power to prevent or retract ads, and courts to hear appeals.
South Australia has had similar laws since 1985.
A Victorian multi-party committee recommended its government bring in similar laws, with a particular focus on preventing the spread of misinformation on social media.
Tasmania's proposed reforms only make it an offence to deceive people in the casting of their vote, rather than a specific clause preventing fact-based misinformation, like the ACT laws.
In their submission, the HRLC urged the Tasmanian Government to use its donation disclosure reforms as an opportunity to introduce similar laws.
"In Tasmania it is currently perfectly legal for political parties and candidates to lie during an election campaign. Australia has laws against misleading and deceptive conduct in trade and commerce, but not in politics," the statement reads.
"The (ACT and SA) laws are limited to electoral material that requires authorisation, and do not burden publishers any more than existing rules about defamation or offensive material do."
Recent examples of potentially misleading or deceptive election advertising included the "mediscare" campaign and the "death tax" campaign.
Other issues raised in the HRLC submission included concerns that third-party campaigners could avoid disclosing their donation to a political party if the money is not "intended" to be used on electoral expenditure.
They also joined calls for the disclosure threshold to be lowered to $1000 like most other states and territories, rather than the proposed $5000.
Attorney-General Elise Archer said the bill strengthened laws against sending out misleading or deceptive communication that could impact the way in which people vote.
"We believe the Bill strikes the right balance and builds upon the existing provisions already contained within the Electoral Act," she said.
"This includes requirements around political advertising, such as section 197 that prevents the dissemination of misleading information by making unlawful the publishing or distribution of any misleading or deceptive electoral matter."
Consultation closed on September 28.
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