Page 2285 - Week 07 - Thursday, 27 August 2020
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Amendment agreed to.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (5.17): I move amendment No 38 circulated in my name [see schedule 6 at page 2330]. This is around limits of moneys for prohibited donors. If it is less than $250, then it becomes a civil offence and a debt to the property, but if it is more than that, it becomes a criminal offence and there are the associated penalties. There is a bunch of sections in that, but that is basically what it is on about.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 11, as amended, agreed to.
Proposed new clauses 11A and 11B.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (5.18): I move amendment No 39 circulated in my name [see schedule 6 at page 2332], which inserts new clauses 11A and 11B. These amendments will establish a new offence for misleading electoral advertising. They are based on a similar provision that has operated in South Australia since 1985.
Unfortunately, in Australia there is no shortage of examples of false or misleading electoral advertising. While not perfect, the South Australian system has worked well there for decades and has been upheld as constitutionally sound by the full bench of the South Australian Supreme Court.
This amendment is not designed to stamp out political debate. Further, it relates only to statements of fact that are inaccurate and misleading to a material extent. For example, if a candidate claimed that their opponent wanted to introduce a specific policy or tax when there was no evidence that their opponent had ever indicated that, they would breach the new offence.
Also, it applies only to electoral material of the kind that is already required to be authorised. It will not apply to, for example, an opinion piece published in a newspaper or a social media post from an individual, provided the post is not authorised for political advertising.
As per the normal requirements for electoral advertising, the offence is intended to apply only to people, or political entities, who post an advertisement, not the publisher. It does not extend the existing burden placed on publishers with regard to defamation or publishing offensive material.
Proposed new section 297A establishes an offence for misleading political advertising. Importantly, it also provides the Electoral Commissioner with the power to request that the person who placed the advertisement do one or more of the following: not disseminate the advertisement again, or publish a retraction in the stated terms and a stated way.
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