Bill
Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Voter Protections in Political Advertising) Bill 2026
before parliament, as at 2026-06-22.
- Sponsor
- Zali Steggall
- Portfolio
- Not recorded
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2026-06-22
- second reading — 2026-06-22
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2026-06-22.
Political advertising in federal elections and referendums would face new bans on false or misleading factual claims and on fake endorsements or impersonations.
The bill would set up a Political Advertising Standards Board to investigate complaints and seek court orders, while also creating a code of conduct and labelling rules for AI-made content.
Penalties would range from 50 penalty units for individuals up to 1,000 penalty units for authorising non-compliant material, though the source does not state when the changes would start.
- The bill would ban electoral or referendum content that contains materially misleading or deceptive factual statements.
- It would also ban people or companies from pretending to be someone else or wrongly attributing material to a candidate, party, or campaign.
- The bill would create a Political Advertising Standards Board with powers to investigate, decide, request corrections, and go to court.
- It would establish an enforceable Ethical Political Advertising Code with civil penalties for non-compliance.
- The bill would require AI-generated content that looks like a real record to carry an 'AI-generated content' label, with civil penalties for violations.
Candidates, parties, campaigners, and any person or company that publishes electoral or referendum advertising in Australia.
Sources
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