Australian legal guidelines solely prohibit misinformation associated to the working of elections and referendums — not the political messaging that engulfs them.
Labor has “missed an enormous alternative” to roll out fact in political promoting legal guidelines, consultants say, as pamphlets outlining the Sure and No instances for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament are readied for distribution with out being fact-checked.
On Tuesday the Australian Electoral Fee (AEC) printed the Sure and No instances that may kind an academic pamphlet to be distributed to the properties of all voters forward of the referendum later this yr. Neither marketing campaign, nonetheless, is required by regulation to peg its marketing campaign messaging to details.
In Australia, the Electoral Act outlaws deceptive voters on the machinations of an election or referendum, like methods to solid a vote or how votes are dealt with. However the act doesn’t account for the way one marketing campaign may attempt to mischaracterise the opposite, and the way every may attempt to mislead voters.
Learn extra concerning the Indigenous Voice to Parliament pamphlet…
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