New laws to ban unsolicited robocalls and regulate the use of artificially generated electoral content have been introduced to State Parliament, as part of a host of democratic reforms.
Changes to end robocalls – a State Government election commitment – would protect South Australians from the invasive and impersonal practice.
Under the Government's legislation, this intrusive tool – one of the biggest complaints directed at political parties – would be stamped out and significant fines would apply: up to $5,000 for individuals, and $10,000 for a party or organisation.
The laws would also prohibit using AI to generate electoral advertisements, or deepfakes, which have been designed to mislead voters – as seen recently in interstate and overseas election campaigns.
Deepfakes are images, video or audio of a real person that have been digitally altered to create an extremely realistic but false depiction of them doing something they did not actually do or say.
Deepfake videos of politicians published without consent would be a breach of the Electoral Act, reinforcing the importance of truth in political advertising.
Offenders face fines of up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organisations.
Other proposed reforms include allowing pre-poll votes to be counted on polling day, a ban on the display of federal electoral corflutes (consistent with state election arrangements) and providing telephone assisted voting for sight and motor-impaired electors.
The State Government initiatives would be implemented alongside certain recommendations of the Electoral Commissioner's Report into the 2022 State Election to further strengthen the electoral process.
As put by Dan Cregan
Putting a stop to unsolicited robocalls and misleading deepfakes is important electoral reform to improve the democratic process.
This legislation targets the sort of intrusive, disruptive and deceptive conduct our community is fed up with in political advertising.
Further amendments will support public engagement at elections and help ensure polling day runs smoothly.
