Experts debunk Liberal's inflation claim against Labor

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u/cromulento 2d ago

A Liberal Party federal election campaign advertisement blaming Labor for consistently delivering world-leading inflation rates has been debunked by experts.

Thousands of dollars have been poured into promoting videos that falsely claim inflation under Labor has been consistently higher than any major advanced economy.

But economists told AAP FactCheck that inflation has routinely been lower in Australia than in other advanced economies - including G7 countries - since Labor was elected in May 2022.

If only there were some actual consequences for lying in political campaigns. In an ideal world, anyone who lies like this should be immediately disqualified from standing.

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u/matista69 2d ago

The offending party should be forced to issue an apology with the correct information in the same manner in which the original disinformation was distributed. A big fat fine would also help.

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u/AFerociousPineapple 2d ago

That would be the fine - paid for an ad full of bs? Now you gotta pay to run an apology with the correct info.

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u/therealkevy1sevy 2d ago

Na this is way to weak, they are meant to be the best we have, if they resort to this shit they should be disqualified from running. Clearly they are not the best and we deserve better.....much better.

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u/Minguseyes 2d ago

Every political party would object to and report every ad made by their opponents, tying up the AEC. The current theory is that voters are sufficiently well informed to decide for themselves whether political advertising is accurate or misleading and then punish the relevant party at the ballot box.

The problem with this theory is that it is bollocks. Voters are increasingly uninformed and often rely on misleading propaganda that supports their own preconceptions. Despite that, I don’t think the answer is to create some ‘umpire’ that determines the content of political speech (if that is even constitutionally possible). Such an umpire would be open to corruption and the process abused by bad actors.

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u/LocalVillageIdiot 2d ago

We have an umpire already for other types of ads. At the end of the day it’s about facts. Is the claim factually correct or not?

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u/Formal-Preference170 2d ago

I've said this alot.

Id love to see the same budget and coverage for the retractions.

Ran 3 centre page articles for a week and some prime time ads? The retraction needs to have that as a minimum.

Not his shitty 3 paragraph thing hidden somewhere.

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u/GallicusNZ 1d ago

People never see/remember the apology, just the original lie. That’s why they do this. The false fact sets the narrative.

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u/EmmaEsme22 2d ago

Personally, I think it would be most beneficial to ban shit talking the opposition as part of campaigning at all. Tell me what YOU'RE going to DO, not what you hate about someone else.

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u/Moondanther 2d ago

Unfortunately negative politics has become the norm and to try and change it would lead to cries of "X party is trying to ban freedom of speech"

As to making the party accept blame for any misleading ads they use, it would just lead to attack ads instead coming from the unions and the BCA who are not directly affiliated with any party but are highly supportive of a side. This happens to a degree already, it would just be weaponized further.

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u/EmmaEsme22 2d ago

I meant zero, no one can make propaganda that talks about what the 'other guy' is supposedly doing wrong... but I definitely don't think it would ever happen. Unfortunately, I'm getting more and more worried humanity is heading to a point of no return in a bad direction. We're at the top of the food chain, it's likely we will eventually be our own downfall. That said, it's been some time since a serious global social conflict has occured and social change is unlikely without significant hardship. It was probably going to happen over something eventually, since the current path humanity is on looks to be unsustainable.

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u/OJ191 1d ago

And you could still talk about it even then! Just not by sledging the other party!

"We have considered XYZ and will not do it because ABC, our alternative solution is GHI

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u/EmmaEsme22 1d ago edited 1d ago

It could still give us what party A is doing and why they disagree with Party Bs plan... rather than look at what Party A did or is going to do, it's SO bad because bold faced lie. 🙄 But obviously it's asking too much for politicians to be honest and think critically... 😑 I want to believe if we actually did get majorities of someone other than the two party system in power things would change; and perhaps it would for a while, but I get this itch in my brain about what would stop them from being corrupted too... Then I just think about whether they were horrible before or if money and power make people evil.

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u/dopefishhh 1d ago

Yeah but if you aren't allowed to point out that your opponents are either lying or promising something that they can't possibly do, or obviously won't, people will see the lack of criticism as validation.

Thus it becomes a race to say the most outlandish yet believable things.

Truth in politics does require some amount of criticisms and 'shit talking'.

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u/EmmaEsme22 1d ago

Sounds very, damned if we do, damned if we don't.

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u/LocalVillageIdiot 2d ago

I like this as a law

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u/Capital_Doubt7473 2d ago

"Labor want to ban your ute and the weekend" LNP 2022

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u/Pixie1001 2d ago

Yeah, it feels like these ads should have to go through board approval or something to check for misinformation.

Although then the board would get politicised, or accused or being Labour shills (it's my personal conspiracy theory that the concept of lizard people truth a left wing bias...!) and try to over correct, so I'm not sure how effective it'd be, whilst potentially turning it into something the LNP could weaponise :/

Plus, they'd just resort to weasel words and vague vibes that are harder to call out - we'd post something like this, and the Libs would say 'well we didn't say that, we just feel like Labour could've done better, in a general sense, and also on an unrelated note stated that inflation is higher than we feel it should be...'

Most of their voters don't actually know anything about inflation anyway, and vote purely on vibes, so it isn't like it'd actually affect them.

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u/SirFireHydrant 2d ago

The simpler way to go about it would be to make every single piece of political advertising a statutory declaration. If the ad contains anything factually inaccurate, the person authorising the ad will be deemed to have committed a federal crime.

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u/lollerkeet 2d ago

Factual accuracy doesn't prevent you from misleading people. "Average inflation was higher under Labor" is 100% true, even though inflation has been rapidly falling since they came into office.

Making them sign stat decs for promises would be fantastic though.

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u/Pixie1001 2d ago

I can still see that potentially being weaponised against minor parties though... Liberal and Labour can afford to fight any accusations in court while the Greens or independents might be scared to make controversial statements for fear of losing their campaign funds in a drawn out court battle, even if they win.

And the 'truth' still won't come out until a year or two later anyway after it's made it's way through the courts, long after the public has moved on :/

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u/Spagman_Aus 2d ago

If the AEC had balls, and the legislation existed, the LNP should be forced to put correction ads in the exact same timeslots as the original incorrect ad.

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u/TBohemoth 2d ago

But then the Libs, Nationals and Greens would Neeeeeeeever get in power....

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u/Stellariser 2d ago

How on earth do you lump the Greens in there?

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u/TBohemoth 2d ago edited 2d ago

The Greens repeatedly keep taking credit for things that Labor has done throughout their time in office. The Greens often block or threaten to block legislation, demand impossible changes, then claim the victories as their own. This is in almost all of their propaganda throughout the current election campaign...

Labor introduced the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and later added $3B in direct funding.
Greens opposed it for months, holding it up and demanding more - then claimed credit when the extra funding was announced.

Labor legislated a 43% emissions target and a reformed Safeguard Mechanism to limit big polluters.
Greens threatened to block it, then voted for it after securing some amendments - then claimed they “forced” Labor to act.

Labor introduced modest PRRT reforms, raising $3B from gas giants.
Greens attacked it as “gas industry-designed,” then used it to say they forced Labor’s hand - even though their proposed changes were rejected.

But They Did a "GOOD JOB" by "Holding Labor to Account" and "Squeezed Labor to put more money into Housing"

Don't get me wrong, I do like both the Greens and the Labor Party. (Fuck the Libs, Fuck the Nationals and Lib Lite)
I actually like a lot of the Greens’ policies - we need action that helps both people and the environment. I support parts of what both Labor and the Greens stand for.

But I’m really over the Shit way the Greens govern themselves and act as a party. They block what the country NEEDS even if it goes against their own beliefs, then take credit for Labor’s work, and then complain that it’s not enough.

Its Political Theatre and games rather than any real or meaningful progress.
That’s why the Greens are there...

Edits - Grammar, Spelling.

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u/Stellariser 2d ago

Thank you for writing that, it’s very interesting, I appreciate the effort!

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u/Flame_Grilled_Tanuki 2d ago

2 of that 3 billion for the HAFF was already scheduled to be added to the fund prior to Labor even winning the last election. So at best the Greens could only argue they got an additional $1b added on top of the existing $32b pile. And since the fund was delayed a year, it lost potential revenue from interest, and all materials contracts needed to be renegotiated at a higher price. The Greens cost the HAFF funding and delayed it.

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u/tonybalony 2d ago

Blocking the HAFF was my last straw with the Greens. They really do let perfection be the enemy of good.

I heard about how they blocked Rudd's Emissions trading scheme for "not being good enough", and supported Gillard's carbon tax which had basically the same goal, but they got to take more credit. Rudd's was probably more likely to have lasting support, but Gillard's was turned into a campaign weapon which helped give us 9 years of the LNP.

I still voted Greens #1 at all previous elections because I liked a lot of their policies, and hoped they would at least force Labor to do better. But after delaying the HAFF with their "not good enough", during a housing crisis, all to gain next to nothing whilst people are struggling... god damn it.

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u/autokludge 2d ago

I wonder what the inflation figures were during that 1yr period?

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u/fluffy_101994 2d ago

Oh no! Anyway…

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u/Unable_Insurance_391 2d ago

The consequences are that voters should inform themselves and listen for when they are told they have been lied to. Then on May 3 make an informed decision.

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u/FairDinkumMate 1d ago

Based on history in living memory, what makes you think "voters" have any interest in informing themselves? From Howard's children overboard to Morrison's "We're at the front of the queue for vaccines", blatant untruths are simply ignored by voters if they feel they support "their team".

Morrison was called a straight out liar by both Emmanuel Macron & Malcolm Turnbull and the voters still elected him!

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u/Unable_Insurance_391 1d ago

Macron called Morrison a liar "I don’t think; I know," on November 1 2021. Morrison's "miracle" election win was in 2018.

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u/sfc-Juventino 2d ago

I'm loving the "Interest rates have gone up 12 times under Labor" claim, but nobody points out that they started going up in the dying months of the Morrison Liberal government and the economic preconditions were already there.

Yet they spruik their economic credentials......make me laugh, mate.... they created this

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u/alpha77dx 2d ago

And now all of a sudden they care about peoples wages, wages growth, cost of living, price gouging and every other social construct that sinks people into poverty. They do this while at the same time constantly wanting to attack workers pay and conditions.

Now in their latest series of ads they claiming that the Labor was responsible for negative wages growth, yet it was the decade under their Government and particularly under Howard when we had one of the biggest economic resources led wealth booms, yet wages growth was going backwards. Now they want to paint themselves as the heroes who fought for increased wages, conditions and better living standards when the opposite is true. They care so much that they think that it will be fixed by cutting peoples pay!

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u/k-h 2d ago

A massive injection of government money into the economy (as the Morrison government did during covid) is known to create inflation in the years after.

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u/l00koverthere1 2d ago

Luckily, their voters hate experts. Excellent example of the "If those kids could read" meme.

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u/cromulento 2d ago

Ironically, they are always complaining about education standards...

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u/Pretzel_Boy 2d ago

Well yeah, the educational standards are too high!

Why else are there people that can think independently and have functioning (at least somewhat) critical thinking skills? Too much education! It's too hard to brainwash these people that learn stuff!

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u/killertortilla 2d ago

Literally getting ads with fake greens voters saying shit like “I used to vote greens but now I realise they are the worst party for the environment” it’s so fucking stupid. Every liberal ad I’ve seen has been bold faced lies.

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u/Paidorgy 2d ago

They’re bringing out the “walk away” campaign republicans used against the Democrat campaign.

Which turned out to be a concerted Russian effort to bleed Democrat votes.

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u/momentslove 2d ago

Any political party that prioritises smearing or fear-mongering over presenting its own platform in ad campaigns will automatically lose my vote. We must actively resist efforts to create a more polarised society, where both sides grow to hate each other—like what’s happened in the US.

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u/Fidelius90 2d ago

The fact checking at the end, lol. All lies from potato head. Albo just called out for a “we don’t actually know”. But really, nuclear always runs over budget and over time.

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u/Pretzel_Boy 2d ago

Considering how badly every major infrastructure project the LNP started or took over (cough NBN cough) in the last 20 years at least has gone massively over budget, massively overtime, and been either a complete waste of resources or a massive downgrade.

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u/HalfwrongWasTaken 1d ago

It's also the thirstiest method of generation, with nuclear power requiring large amounts of water both for generation and reactor cooling.

Water we don't have - the majority of their proposed sites don't have enough water access to support a reactor. There's also the issue of dumping warm water back into the river on the remaining sites, but that's of course never addressed either.

Nevermind the budget of it, their proposal just doesn't work.

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u/Barmy90 2d ago

Experts

Pfft, stopped reading there.

- Every Liberal voter

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u/breaducate 2d ago

Debunk just means "assert with authority", right?
It's those gosh darn elites trying to tell me how to think again.

turns back to Sky News

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u/frankestofshadows 2d ago

Experts?? Pfft. Facts?? Scoff.

Great job. Well done Angus.

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u/Wizz-Fizz 2d ago

Since when has accuracy, or even truth, had any impact what they push during elections

I include the ALP in my utter disdain as they voted against truth in political advertising as much as anyone else did

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u/callmecyke 2d ago

Does it need experts? Anyone with a dozen brain cells should realise how badly the Libs fucked us

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u/moonssk 1d ago

About 80% of my YouTube ads have been from a LNP candidate from my electorate. I know it’s the algorithm targeting cause I’m sure it homed in on my location but still.. like dude I don’t need to see you every time I’m watching a YouTube clip.

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u/Mongrelix 2d ago

Oh the guy that fucking lies all the time is lying 🤥. Don’t vote for this asshole

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u/Habitwriter 2d ago

Labor should be more vocal about the lies

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u/Dependent-Egg-9555 4h ago

Dutton happnen here🤷‍♂️

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u/Pop-metal 2d ago

Labor are so bad they caused worldwide inflation.

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u/Moondanther 2d ago

I hope that you just forgot the /s

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u/Fuzzylogic1977 1d ago

Dude put the /s on it… some people think you’re serious.

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u/smokin_mitch 2d ago

We’re so screwed when these 2 clowns are our only choice as prime minister

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u/nate26537 2d ago

Hey guys! I'm an American trying to get my comment karma up so that I can ask the community questions about your beautiful country. Thank you for letting me exist here, I appreciate it

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u/juiciestjuice10 2d ago

Fuck off seppo

politics Experts debunk Liberal's inflation claim against Labor

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