LNP laws to ensure honesty in elections
Political parties, candidates and other individuals who release false or misleading advertising during election campaigns will face fines of up to $10,000 under new laws introduced to Parliament by the LNP.
Speaking at the LNP State Council meeting on the Sunshine Coast, State Opposition and LNP Leader John-Paul Langbroek released a draft Private Members Bill designed to ensure truth in advertising during election campaigns.
“Integrity and accountability in Government starts with being upfront with Queenslanders – something this Labor Government seems to have forgotten after being in power for almost 20 years,” he said.
“Put simply, stopping Labor’s corruption starts with stopping the lies.
“The draft laws I am releasing today focus on ensuring candidates and political parties tell the truth during election campaigns.
“This is about ensuring the standards the Government demand of businesses who advertise are also the standards demanded of Government.
“Queenslanders don’t want to hear lies about fuel taxes and privatisation, they don’t want to hear lies about supposed job cuts when there is no evidence to back up the claims and Queenslanders don’t want to hear lies about the creation of 100,000 jobs for 100,000 breadwinners.
“The LNP’s laws are about restoring honesty and integrity in the electoral process, and ensuring political parties and candidates do not make outrageous claims they know are false or misleading.”
The LNP’s Bill introduces a new offence of misleading electoral advertising with penalties of up to $10,000.
In addition, the Bill gives the Electoral Commission the power to require the advertiser, which includes the person who authorised the false advertisement, to withdraw the ad and/or publish a retraction.
The LNP’s draft laws will be made available on the LNP website – www.lnp.org.au – with the final laws to be introduced in the State Parliament in early 2010.
The LNP’s proposed Truth in Advertising Bill is the next tranche in the LNP’s ‘Honesty in Government’ platform.
It follows the LNP’s move earlier this year to reinstate the laws making it illegal for Ministers to lie to Parliament, a proposal opposed by the Bligh Labor Government.