November 2026

If an ordinary Australian lies on a tax return, provides false information to a bank or deliberately misleads someone in a business transaction, there can be serious consequences.

But apparently different rules apply to politicians.

Our elected representatives can make misleading statements, break promises, misrepresent facts and, in some circumstances, even mislead Parliament without facing any meaningful punishment.

It’s an extraordinary double standard, and it’s time we introduced laws to make politicians genuinely accountable for deliberate dishonesty. That would embrace the blatantly breaking of major election promises by the current Federal Government.

Two recent newspaper articles have highlighted the problem.

Writing in The Australian, political commentator Dennis Shanahan has focused on the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and a $6.05 million taxpayer-funded grant to Marrickville Golf Club, which sits in his electorate and close to an investment property owned by Albanese.

Albanese repeatedly defended the funding in Parliament, claiming it was needed to fix sewerage problems affecting the Cooks River.

But officials subsequently revealed during Senate estimates that the sewerage works were not included in the federal grant.

Those works were being funded separately by the NSW Government, at a cost of $269,000.

Confronted with the contradiction, Albanese eventually acknowledged that his previous statements were “not correct”.

But there was no straightforward apology, no acceptance of responsibility for misleading Parliament and apparently no formal consequences – without even addressing the pork-barrelling nature of this gift of $6 million to a club where the PM is a member.

Shanahan argues that the Prime Minister has clearly misled Parliament, although the evidence does not establish whether the original statements were knowingly false.

And there’s an important distinction here.

Politicians, like everyone else, can make genuine mistakes. But knowingly providing false information is an entirely different matter.

The problem is that the current system provides remarkably little effective deterrence against deliberate political deception.

Meanwhile, another article has raised the broader issue of dishonesty during election campaigns.

Writing in The Courier-Mail, columnist Mike O’Connor highlighted comments by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, who indicated his government was open to introducing truth-in-political-advertising laws.

O’Connor says we have reached an extraordinary situation where elected representatives apparently need legislation to compel them to tell the truth.

Think about that.

We elect politicians to manage billions of dollars of public money, make laws affecting every Australian and determine policies that can fundamentally change people’s lives.

Yet we cannot trust them to tell us the truth.

O’Connor points out that deliberately misleading someone to obtain their vote appears to carry fewer consequences than dishonesty in many ordinary commercial transactions.

And he’s right.

Politicians can make extravagant promises during campaigns, knowing they may never deliver them, while voters have little practical recourse until the next election.

But the problem extends well beyond election advertising.

We’ve seen repeated examples of governments withholding important financial information, providing misleading explanations for decisions, refusing to disclose the true costs of infrastructure projects and avoiding responsibility when things go disastrously wrong.

We’ve written frequently about extraordinary cost blowouts on major infrastructure developments, where taxpayers are expected to provide billions more than originally promised.

What happens to the politicians responsible?

Usually very little. They blame predecessors, bureaucrats, contractors or international economic conditions. Then they move on.

We need legislation establishing genuine consequences for elected representatives who are proven to have deliberately deceived Parliament or the public.

That should include substantial fines, suspension and, for serious or repeated offences, disqualification from public office.

Where corruption or fraud is established, criminal penalties should apply.

Any such laws must distinguish deliberate deception from honest mistakes, changed circumstances and legitimate political disagreement.

But the principle is straightforward: politicians should not enjoy a lower standard of honesty than the people they govern. Indeed, we’re entitled to expect higher standards from our elected representatives.

Independent integrity bodies must have the powers and resources to investigate serious allegations without political interference.

And these standards should apply equally to politicians from every party, including ministers and prime ministers.

Public office is a position of trust, not a licence to mislead.

The growing public disillusionment with our political system should surprise nobody. Australians are tired of evasions, broken promises, secrecy and the apparent absence of accountability.

We don’t need more speeches from politicians promising integrity and transparency.

We need enforceable standards and meaningful punishment when those standards are deliberately breached.

If politicians cannot be trusted to tell the truth voluntarily, it’s time the law gave them a compelling reason to do so.