Political Deception Bill

Public pronouncements by politicians to be trustworthy

1. Every public pronouncement by a politician is to be treated as including a promise that, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the politician, it is true.
2. The pronouncement is true if a reasonable person would consider it to be sufficiently accurate taking account of—
   1. its nature and content;
   2. the context in which it was made
   3. whether the politician intended the pronouncement to be relied upon as true, and
   4. the effect intended when it was made.
3. It shall be a criminal offence for a politician to make a public pronouncement which, at the time it was made, the politician knew or believed to be untrue.
4. Proceedings for any such offence must be commenced within 6 months of the date of the public pronouncement.
5. No such proceedings shall be commenced without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
6. Such an offence will be triable on indictment and punishable with an unlimited fine or imprisonment up to a maximum of 2 years.
7. Definition section
   1. A 'politician' is someone active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking office in government at either a local, regional, or national level.
   2. A 'public pronouncement' is a statement – either given verbally or in writing – made by, in this instance, a politician to the public that is designed to inform them of an issue or persuade them to take a certain position on an issue, possibly including to vote for them as a candidate for their party in an election. For this legislation, 'pronouncements' are expected to be communicated through the mediums of, but not limited to, social media, traditional (ie broadcast and newspaper) media, and in printed election material.

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