The Greens will move to crack down on government advertising when State Parliament resumes next week, as new figures reveal the Malinauskas Government has spent almost $200 million on advertising in its first four years in office.
SA Greens Leader Robert Simms will reintroduce his Government Advertising Bill next week, which would bring stronger safeguards around taxpayer-funded advertising, and greater transparency measures requiring the disclosure of election commitment tracking held by the Premier's Delivery Unit.
Under the Greens’ Government Advertising Bill:
- the Minister would be required to establish guidelines for Government advertising (the Government voluntarily established guidelines but there is no legislative requirement for them to do so).
- MPs and Ministers will be prohibited from being featured in ads
- Advertising of bills currently before parliament would be prohibited, along with the promotion of any political party
- the Auditor-General will have new powers to investigate breaches and report to Parliament
- Any Government advertising of more than $10,000 in the lead up to an election (from July of the year prior to the election) would be prohibited unless approved by the Auditor-General or the Parliament itself on specified grounds
- The proactive disclosure of election commitment tracking undertaken by The Premier's Delivery Unit will be required.
Quotes attributable to Robert Simms MLC:
“$200 million is a staggering amount of money to spend on Government advertising, particularly in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”
“Guidelines for this advertising should be mandated, and we need to ensure that the Auditor-General is empowered to investigate breaches.”
“In the lead up to an election in particular, the lines between Government advertising and political party advertising are blurred, and this bill would give an independent umpire, like the Auditor-General or the Parliament itself the authority to make a call on whether or not advertising is really in the public interest.”
“This along with the proactive disclosure of election commitment tracking will provide greater transparency on how public money is being spent.”