Ideas@TheCentre

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There’s nothing like government advertising

Robert Carling | 04 June 2010
Something is awry when an advertising campaign becomes more controversial than its subject. Worse when it happens twice. Just after the ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ campaign promoting Australian tourism was finally put out of its misery this week, another one came to life and instantly raised the controversy about government advertising to new heights. I refer of course to the Rudd government using $38 million of taxpayer funds to promote its proposed Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT).

The RSPT campaign deserves all the scorn heaped on it. Not that it is any more a misuse of taxpayers’ money than past government advertising campaigns – under Coalition as well as Labor, federal and state. Remember the Howard government’s ‘Unchain my heart’ campaign for the GST? The only difference is that this time, the government isn’t even pretending that the advertisements would pass its own tests of legitimacy.

Taxpayer funded advertising can serve a legitimate purpose. Ordinary citizens need to know about matters of direct and immediate relevance to their everyday lives, such as a change in train timetables, new bus routes, or new road rules. Even persuasive advertising such as a road safety campaign can be justified in some cases. Such advertising does not help politicians win the next election, but when taxpayer funded advertising benefits political parties, it crosses the line.

The public has a right to know about government policies, but the media do that job anyway. The media already broadcast factual information along with opinion, analysis, criticism and praise, which help the public understand policies and form their own opinions. Advertising government policies does not provide any such context. It may provide information but only in the most favourable light to the government or even in a more favourable light than can be justified. The government ‘justification’ about the need to counter misinformation about the RSPT is ill-argued because the media provide all the opportunities for the government to present its case without resorting to paid advertising.

The idea of the week belongs to Senator Bob Brown, who wants new legislation that would require government advertising to be approved by the Auditor-General. Let’s see what the major parties make of that.

Robert Carling is a Senior Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.