Coroner & Legal
Legislate to keep the bastards honest
Friedrich Nietzsche said: “The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.”
Discerning the visionaries in the current debate about truth in politics is difficult but we should at least make the liars accountable. One way of doing that and addressing growing public cynicism about politics and politicians (at least at election time) is with truth in political advertising legislation.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s comments on The 7:30 Report that only his ”carefully scripted remarks” should be taken ”absolutely as gospel truth” has reignited the perennial debate about politicians and honesty.
Gleeful government ministers were quick to dub Mr Abbott “Phony Tony” but the ALP is not immune to similar criticism. I have lost count of the number of carefully crafted answers from senior Labor MPs last week in which they stressed they never “knowingly lie”.
On (last) Sunday (week’s)program, Laurie Oakes even suggested that the Deputy Prime Minister was telling a “porky’ when she said “there’s more chance of me becoming the full-forward for the Dogs than there is any change in the Labor Party” as part of her attempts to deflect speculation about her leadership ambitions.
Despite Laurie’s probing, Julia Gillard avoided a straight-forward response. Of course, Ms Gillard would be crazy to rule out leadership, but being upfront about her chances of being, and desire to be, Prime Minister would get her into trouble and she knows it. Instead, we’re left with pious words of loyalty to her job and leader that sound contrived even if they’re true.
Surveys and research demonstrate Australian voters increasingly are cynical about and disillusioned with their elected representatives. Long winded and obfuscating answers (by nearly all politicians) to simple questions don’t help.
The public’s response to Mr Abbott’s comments was predictably negative, despite the Opposition’s attempts to ‘spin’ the idea that his statements were an example of his “straight talking” and candid nature.
A Sydney Morning Herald online poll found 77 per cent of voters thought it was unacceptable for politicians to stretch the truth “in the heat of verbal combat” and 69 per cent of The Age online readers thought “Tony Abbott’s admission (would) devalue everything he says in the lead-up to the election”.
Cynicism towards leaders is nothing new – it’s been around probably for as long as there have been community hierarchies – and it can be healthy in moderation.
But the current extent of dissatisfaction with Parliament and our leaders has an impact on the health of our democracy and the esteem in which we hold our elected representatives.
The Prime Minister’s popularity poll dive is largely a result of his perceived lack of conviction on issues such as climate change (specifically, his decision to jettison the proposed ETS) and his changing policies on asylum seekers.
Mr Abbott may have succeeded in ‘cutting through’ with his plain-speaking, ‘action man’ style, but he has taken a well-deserved hit in credibility with his 7:30 Report performance.
Both leaders want to be believed, so it is time for one – or both– to commit to truth in political advertising, and business leaders should be at the forefront of such a campaign.
Why should the political community be different from the private sector? Why do politicians get a licence to be fraudulent in their advertising when nobody else can?
In the private sector, misleading or deceptive conduct is outlawed under Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act.
Members of Parliament enjoy varied exemptions in law: I fought for many years (without success) to remove the exemption for “political acts and practices” from the Privacy Act. It is yet another example of where the business and community sectors are expected to adhere to rules and regulations to which the political world is not subject.
For more than two decades, the Australian Democrats tried to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act “to prohibit statements of fact that are inaccurate or misleading to a material extent; impose fines for breaching the truth in political advertising for individuals and corporate bodies, including candidates and political parties; and provide for the ‘reasonable person’ defence and allowing for corrections and retractions”.
Such legislation need not infringe on freedom of speech but could provide added accountability in a system where politicians and candidates are increasingly the final arbiter of what constitutes fact or fiction in an election campaign, provided it is not defamatory.
There are home-grown examples (the South Australian Electoral Act 1985 deals with inaccurate and misleading advertisements and Commonwealth law from 1983-84) as well as overseas models (not to mention Australian Democrat Private Member’s Bills) that provide guidance in this area.
There is time to draft legislation before the federal election. Such a commitment might engender renewed faith in our leaders and a greater degree of electoral accountability. Indeed, the leader who commits to such honesty in an election campaign could be considered a visionary.