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In recent years there has been an increase in the use of taxpayers’ money for political advertising. There are no laws regulating government expenditure on advertising.
Australian governments have greatly increased their spending on advertising campaigns in recent years. Federal government expenditure, for example, increased by more than 50 per cent between 2005-06 to over $200 million (note that this figure was left out in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Annual Report, receiving heavy criticism from Opposition parties). Political advertising is an acceptable means of disseminating information of genuine benefit to the electorate. This, however, becomes duplicitous when political parties misuse taxpayers’ money to gain political advantage. In response to increasing concerns surrounding the advertising campaign for the new industrial relations laws in 2005, the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee conducted an inquiry in order to assess accountability for political advertising. The Committee released its report on 6 December 2005, finding federal governmental advertising expenditure was “extravagant” and “wasteful”, amounting to propaganda designed to prevent scrutiny and debate of the proposed industrial relations legislation. On 16 October 2007, a mid-year economic report revealed that a total of $121 million was spent on WorkChoices’ advertising alone ($66 million on the fairness test and $55 million on the first version of the laws).
In 2006, the Bracks’ Victorian Government was also accused by the former head of the Communications Unit in the Department of Premier and Cabinet of wasting taxpayers’ money on government advertising to promote major projects, government schools, hospitals and policing (see Murphy, The Age, 28 January 2006).
Currently, there are no laws regulating government expenditure on advertising. The lack of accountability for governmental advertising campaigns leads not only to unfair advantage in electoral competition, but also to the possibility of political manipulation and persuasion. Clerk of the Senate, Harry Evans, argues that there is a perception that “Government advertising campaigns are employed for party political purposes and electoral advantage”. There is also suspicion that advertising agencies are accepting lower fees from government in order to be assured of more lucrative governmental contracts. Evans argues that this would be “tantamount to corruption” (Evans, 2004).
On July 7th 2008, Senator John Faulkner announced the release of a set of guidelines regarding campaign advertising, which will apply to all advertising by Australian Government Departments. These guidelines are not yet incorporated into legislation.
The guidelines will apply to all campaigns costing over $250,000. The guidelines require the head of the government agency involved with an advertising campaign to sign off that a campaign meets the new guidelines. The Auditor-General must report publicly whether each campaign has met the guidelines. The Cabinet Secretary and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation will be required to make six monthly reports on all advertising expenditure. When questioned whether the guidelines signalled a forthcoming campaign to advertise the carbon trading scheme or other new government initiatives Senator Faulkner responded that this was certainly not the case. However Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has been under some criticism for not revealing the cost of the Government’s climate change advertising campaign. Whilst the campaign was approved under the new guidelines, Minister Wong refused to reveal the cost, estimated to be $9 million dollars in 2008.
Sources: Transcript of Press Conference with Senator John Faulkner: http://www.smos.gov.au/transcripts/2008/tr_20080702_advertising_guidelines.html
‘Penny Wong under fire for silence on ad costs’ The Australian | Christian Kerr | July 24, 2008: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24068156-5013404,00.html
Murphy, M. (2006). “Bracks’ ad spending worse than Kennett: Insider”, The Age, 28 January 2006.
