Everyone knows that politicians and their supporters lie. Not long after I began this blog in early 2017, I wrote a piece about how politicians lie and I gave some examples of the different types of lying. They include such types as barefaced lies, butler lies, coverups, lying by omission, false advertising and several others1.
In recent years, trust in politicians in Australia has declined such that earlier this year, a survey conducted from a representative sample of 7000 Australians found only 16% have any trust in politicians, which is a record low. However, of greater concern is the decline in trust in the systems of democracy that are there to keep politicians accountable, which has almost halved since 2008. The survey showed trust in the federal parliament and the federal government at 26% and 27% respectively. Only 33.4% trusted or strongly trusted Australia’s whole system of government, with trust in the courts and judicial system at 44% and independent integrity agencies at 45.9%2.
This lack of trust stems not only from politicians lying, but from their lack of integrity, their hypocrisy and their corruption. Integrity means being honest and having strong moral principles. One only has to look at recent political history to see that honesty is the exception rather than the rule. Politicians like Tony Abbott lied constantly3,4, as did Scott Morrison5,6 and others7-9.
I have also written about the lack of morality, the hypocrisy and corruption in the federal and state governments, examples of which are too numerous to mention here given that the focus is on politicians and their supporters lying. That extraordinary amount of lying by politicians could be about to change, at least in Wales, because of legislation being considered there. Elected politicians and candidates in Wales who deliberately lie could face serious consequences, including being removed from office, under proposals aimed at restoring trust in politics. The Senedd’s (Welsh parliament) standards of conduct committee has recommended legally defining political deception, and strengthening existing rules to explicitly ban misleading statements. Proposed potential penalties range from a formal retraction to suspension or, in extreme cases, recall by voters10. However, the committee stopped short of recommending that deliberate deception be made a criminal offence. The idea that politicians who lie could be investigated by the police and courts had previously been mooted. The option of a civil offence with a lower burden of proof being introduced was also rejected. The committee has been working on the proposals as a way of restoring faith in politics, and trust in politicians, in the lead up to the next Senedd elections in 2026. While the report sets out options for change, the Welsh government has already promised to introduce a legal ban (in some form) before the next election10.
South Australia has had truth in political advertising laws for almost forty years. The ACT has had similar laws since 2020; the first election with those laws in effect took place in late 202411.
In the ACT, on 1 July 2021, the Electoral Act 1992 was amended by the Electoral Amendment Act 2020 to establish a new offence for inaccurate and misleading electoral advertising. Under section 297A of the Electoral Act a person commits an offence if:
- the person disseminates, or authorises for dissemination of, an advertisement containing electoral matter; and
- the advertisement contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent.
The maximum penalty for a breach of this law is 50 penalty units12. Currently, a penalty unit for an individual is $160, and for a corporation it is $81013.
However, the ACT laws do not apply to federal elections. As a consequence, all sorts of crap is allowable federally. In the 2022 election, for example, placards appeared in Canberra which featured independent Senate candidate David Pocock opening his shirt in a ‘Superman pose’ to reveal a T-shirt with the logo of The Greens political party. Pocock says these were “designed to deliberately mislead voters”, and he did lodge a formal complaint to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), but the placards were unlikely to breach the Commonwealth Electoral Act according to the AEC. Advance Australia, which is now just called ADVANCE, is the ultraconservative lobby group behind the placards14.
The AEC did find that these placards were in breach of the Commonwealth’s Electoral Act. So what was the punishment? ADVANCE agreed to take down the placards15. ADVANCE then accused the AEC of bullying. For people like those in ADVANCE, very accusation is an admission.
Pocock, who is very much respected in the ACT for his honesty, in the 2025 election achieved a primary vote of 39%, which was much more than the Labor Party (32%) and the Liberal Party (18%)16.
Another example from the 2022 federal election was an advertisement depicting China’s president Xi Jinping casting a vote, alongside the slogan “CCP [Chinese Communist Party] says vote Labor”. Again, the AEC said that the signs were appropriately authorised – by Matthew Sheahan for ADVANCE — so were unlikely to be misleading or deceptive under the electoral act, in relation to the physical act of casting a vote17. AEC spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth said the independent electoral body’s role was not to prove whether political advertising was truthful, adding: “In terms of truth, we can’t touch it unless it’s really specific about the election process itself”14.
Lying by politicians and their supporters has not only decreased the public’s trust in politicians, but false accusations of antisemitism against Independent Zoe Daniel allowed such a spiv as Tim Wilson to get elected in the federal electorate of Goldstein18. This ability to lie with impunity needs to change, and maybe the Welsh are starting something that will spread further. One can only hope and advocate.
Sources
- https://blotreport.com/2017/02/10/how-politicians-lie/
- https://bond.edu.au/news/trust-politics-at-record-lows-survey
- https://blotreport.com/2017/09/13/abbott-know-lying/
- https://blotreport.com/2017/09/06/abbott-continues-lying/
- https://blotreport.com/2021/07/10/the-lying-never-stops/
- https://blotreport.com/2021/11/10/morrison-lying-about-lying/
- https://blotreport.com/2019/03/06/sick-of-the-constant-lying/
- https://blotreport.com/2017/02/16/morrison-porter-blackmail-lying/
- https://blotreport.com/2019/02/06/lying-by-omission-again/
- https://theconversation.com/wales-wants-to-punish-lying-politicians-how-would-it-work-248728
- https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/truth-in-political-advertising-laws/
- https://www.elections.act.gov.au/integrity/misleading-electoral-advertising
- https://www.armstronglegal.com.au/criminal-law/act/penalties-sentencing/penalty-units/
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-27/david-pocock-lodges-complaint-over-advance-australia-corflutes/101016990
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-16/aec-finds-fake-david-pocock-zali-steggall-signs-breach-laws/101070252
- https://results.aec.gov.au/31496/Website/SenateStateFirstPrefs-31496-ACT.htm
- https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7660390/right-wing-group-warned-over-anti-labor-ads-with-xi-jinping/
- https://ohpi.org.au/community-experts-lambast-activists-using-antisemitism-to-intimidate-j-wire/
I’m intrigued by the kind of person who wishes to become a politician.