Post-poll, Australians want truth in political advertising By Adam Gartrell Australians overwhelmingly want truth in political advertising laws as part of a crackdown on false and misleading scare campaigns. 
Political advertising is back in the spotlight after the   July 2 election partly because of the apparent success of Labor's "Mediscare" campaign.
Crossbench kingmaker Nick Xenophon is among those calling for laws to ensure political parties are governed by the same advertising rules as individuals and companies. Presently, they're exempt.
While Senator Xenophon secured three Senate spots in his native South Australia, his overall vote was down from 2013. He believed a "misleading and deceitful" Labor scare campaign on penalty rates was part of the reason.
The advertisements claimed Senator Xenophon wanted to cut penalty rates, a decision to be made by the Fair Work independent umpire.
"It was a lie," Senator Xenophon said. "I had to put up corrective advertising, but nowhere near to the extent of their misleading advertising. Why should politicians be exempt from the sort of laws that apply to misleading and deceptive advertising that apply to corporations and individuals?"
The Greens are also planning to move amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act to incorporate truth in advertising.
"Blatantly false political advertising runs counter to the public interest," Greens democracy spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said.
New research by progressive think tank The Australia Institute shows huge support for truth in advertising laws.
In a national ReachTEL poll of 2875 people conducted last week, 87.7per cent of people said they wanted the change. Just 5per cent were against such laws and about 7per cent were unsure.
The institute's executive director Ben Oquist said the self- regulating system for truth in political advertising was abolished in 2002 and since then it had effectively been a "free-for-all".
"It is time for an inquiry about how truth in political advertising could be implemented fairly, consistent with the constitution, in Australia," he said.
"Political campaigning needs to be strong and robust, but it is time to have a fresh look at the system."
In the poll, 94per cent of Coalition voters wanted the new laws while 78.3per cent of Labor voters wanted tougher laws.
While there was an implied freedom of political communication in the Australian constitution, Mr Oquist believed there was still scope for reform.
Parliament did introduce such laws in the 1980s but quickly repealed them after finding them unworkable.
Labor spent much of this year's campaign warning the Liberals planned to privatise Medicare. it ran three advertising campaigns on the issue, one featuring former prime minister Bob Hawke.
The Coalition had formed a taskforce to examine how to update the Medicare payments system and one option was outsourcing.
But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull conceded there was "fertile ground" for the claim to take root because of the Coalition's historic approach to Medicare.
Advertising analysts Ebiquity said the political parties spent more than $13million on advertising during the campaign and the Liberals and Labor accounted for 90per cent of that. The Liberals outspent Labor by nearly 40per cent, buying $6.9million of advertising to Labor's $4.9million.