Placards, which independent Senate candidate David Pocock says were "designed to deliberately mislead voters", do not breach the Commonwealth Electoral Act according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and marketing experts.
The election placards, known as corflutes, have appeared in Canberra, featuring Mr Pocock opening his shirt in a 'Superman pose' to reveal a T-shirt with the logo of The Greens political party.
Mr Pocock, who is running as an independent, slammed the group behind the signs on social media and now lodged a formal complaint with the AEC.
"Another day, another smear campaign," he said in a Facebook post.
Mr Pocock says he has been "inundated with calls from people who are confused about who I am running for".
"These posters … are a lie designed to deliberately mislead voters," he said.
Conservative lobby group ADVANCE behind corflutes
Advance Australia, which is now just called ADVANCE, is the conservative lobby group behind the placards.
ADVANCE was launched in 2018 and recently also authorised an election ad depicting China's president Xi Jinping casting a vote, alongside the slogan "CCP (Chinese Communist Party) says vote Labor".
In a statement to the ABC, an ADVANCE spokesman did not back away from the group's use of the signs, saying it was "just pointing out the obvious".
"At the beginning of this campaign, David Pocock couldn't explain on local radio why he isn't running for the Greens, only that he has 'no interest in toeing a party line'," the spokesperson said.
AEC's role not to prove whether ads are truthful
The AEC told the ABC that the signs were appropriately authorised – by Matthew Sheahan for ADVANCE — so were unlikely to be misleading or deceptive under the electoral act, in relation to the physical act of casting a vote.
In a statement to the ABC, the AEC said:
"This would mean it is not captured under s329 of the Electoral Act but rather something for voters to stop and consider. Our Stop and Consider campaign is reminding voters of their role in this regard."
AEC spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth said the independent electoral body's role was not to prove whether political advertising was truthful.
"That's what we did with those Xi Jinping signs; there was a tick on the ballot paper and that could have potentially confused people about the formality [of voting] so we issued a warning and those signs were changed."
But the AEC said a candidate themselves could seek an injunction or refer the material to the AFP if they believed something was prohibited under the electoral act.
Mr Pocock said the signs were evidence as to why political advertising laws needed to be strengthened.
"This blatantly deceptive conduct is an attack on our democracy."
Current advertising laws allow for 'robust debate': Seselja
ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja, whose seat Mr Pocock has singled out as targeting, said he was not affiliated with or funded by ADVANCE, but stopped short of condemning the group's placard.
"In the end, I think he looks a lot like a Green and he has to explain how he's different from the Greens, but to me, the Greens and David Pocock look very similar in their policy outlook," he said.
Senator Seselja said he supported the current political advertising laws, but also offered an example of a group he said had "engaged in deliberately misleading advertising" about him.
"What I don't support is third-party groups who fund my opponents deliberately doctoring headlines. And yet my opponents, David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein, continue to take money from those groups."
Senator Seselja is referring to progressive group Climate 200, which supports a number of independent candidates, including ACT Senate hopefuls David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein, using a doctored headline in a social media post attacking him.
According to the Canberra Times, Climate 200 corrected the altered headline when it was brought to its attention, saying it was a "mistake".
'Can they get away with it? Yes'
Marketing expert from the Australian National University, Andrew Hughes, said while advertisers could not lie in general marketing, those regulations did not apply in political marketing.
Mr Hughes said a joint standing committee met at Parliament House after each election to discuss issues that arose during the campaign, such as corflute advertising, but said the topic had been a "hot potato".
"What they want to look at here is whether or not this is just really a smear campaign or is it just freedom of speech and expression?", he said.
"For most people looking at it you go: 'yeah, this really is a smear campaign'.
In a statement, ACT Greens candidate for Canberra Tim Hollo did not wade into the debate about the corflute featuring Mr Pocock but said the "dishonest attack" was another reason to ban roadside placards.
"We know most Canberrans don't like them, and we had our best ever election result [at the ACT election] in 2020 after refusing to use them, so I don't know who the candidates think they're winning over by littering the streets," Mr Hollo said.
"I'm also delighted that our ACT Greens have negotiated truth in political advertising laws that will be in force for the next territory election."
