Calls for new electoral laws to make politicians' 'lies' illegal

Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur said she would introduce amendments to the Electoral Act that would make it illegal to disseminate political material or advertising during an election period that is factually incorrect.

The ACT will go to the polls next year and Ms Le Couteur said people should vote knowing exactly who and what they're voting for.

She was particularly unhappy with Coalition ads at the last federal election claiming Labor was going to introduce a death tax.

More recently and locally, she claimed the Canberra Liberals had made erroneous clams about the ACT government's climate strategy.

While the legislation she's proposing would not apply to the Liberals' material as it was not distributed during an election campaign, she said it would stop political parties "outright lying" in the lead up to an election.

"This won't stop politicians misleading people, but it's a step in the right direction."

Ms Le Couteur's amendments would be based on South Australian laws which is the only jurisdiction in the country with truth in political advertising laws.

She said the legislation would only cover authorised political advertising where matters of fact were in dispute, but would include social media posts from authorised accounts.

The South Australian laws allow people to make a complaint about party political material that is disseminated in any way to the SA electoral commission, who can then make a ruling. This ruling could be to remove the offending material or to publish a correction.