So, during the 2023 election campaign NatACT First claimed they would cut public spending and borrowing, and they have *not* done that.
But OK, sometimes things emerge postelection and plans need to change. This is the rationale for electing representatives instead of making every law change a referendum.
What's really shocking is that the governing parties are still implying they *have* done these things. I'm calling this out as the political gaslighting it is. Why is this legal?
(2/?)
We really need to criminalise political fraud. If a politician or someone acting for a political party makes claims in public that *they know* to be untrue or seriously misleading, there ought to be legal consequences.
For a start, it certainly ought to make that person ineligible as a candidate for public office. Perhaps fines and prison sentences could be appropriate too, at a similar level to those for corporate fraud like insider trading.
(3/?)