“Decisions about what constitutes the truth may be fraught, but this reform has been achieved in other jurisdictions and these sorts of considerations are already routinely made by companies and regulators under consumer law.”

Critics of truth in advertising laws argue that it can be difficult to adjudicate claims, particularly in relation to the future.

For example, the former AEC official Michael Maley has questioned whether politicians “have a legal right to be believed when they say they don’t have a plan to do something”.

“In 2013 Tony Abbott said there would be no cuts to the ABC or SBS – he denied [the cuts], so does that mean you can’t say anymore about it?”

via Vast majority of Australians support ban on misleading political advertising | Media | The Guardian