Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.Credit:Luis Ascui
Abipartisan Victorian Parliamentary inquiry led by Labor MP Lee Tarlamis called for the change along with a series of new clamps on social media companies,including Twitter and Facebook,to thwart misinformation.
Labor supported the principle of the inquiry’s recommendations,which included encouraging social media companies to establish the identity of users before they are allowed to create an account,and funding a fact-checking organisation to operate during election campaigns.
It also supported a push to ban the dissemination of material falsely purporting to be from the electoral commission,as well as the truth in advertising laws that drew praise from Opposition Leader Matthew Guy last week.
Labor MP Lee Tarlamis headed the inquiry.Credit:Victorian Parliament
The government’s in-principle support does not guarantee it will pursue the change. However,it will investigate the merits of the laws.
In itsresponse to the committee’s report,the government said it needed to analyse if the prohibition of some political advertising might cut across the limited right of political communication in the Australian Constitution.
The ACT government last year banned false political advertising. Politicians in the territory were motivated by two recent federal election issues – Labor’s“Mediscare” campaign and theCoalition’s “death tax” warning – that were widely accepted to be untrue or,at best,misleading.