During the Victorian state election, both major parties have turned to artificial-intelligence generated advertisements. Labor posted a video that portrays opposition health spokesperson Jess Wilson warning that a future Liberal government would impose “Americanised healthcare”, with on-screen captions of $150,000 for a heart attack, $6,000 for an ambulance ride and $40,000 for childbirth, while One Nation leader Warren Pickering appears beside her wearing a Liberal badge.
Wilson, who recently unveiled a $1.27 billion scheme to fund private hospitals for public elective surgeries, denounced the clip as a “desperate smear campaign” and insisted her government would not adopt U.S.-style health costs. The Liberal Party dismissed the Labor video as “garbage” and countered with its own AI-generated spot showing Premier Ben Carroll apparently asleep at his desk, a narrative that followed a Herald Sun report alleging the premier took naps on the job.
A source inside Labor’s campaign headquarters, who requested anonymity, claimed the Liberals “threw the first brick” by releasing the Carroll clip. The dispute extends beyond the two parties: conservative lobby group Advance Australia issued an AI video that fabricated a Labor victory on election night, featuring former premiers Jacinta Allan and a North-Face clad Daniel Andrews, while One Nation’s launch event displayed AI-generated imagery that invoked inflammatory ethnic stereotypes.
Clancy Moore, chief executive of Transparency International Australia, warned that public confidence is at an all-time low amid the deepfake surge. Media researcher Timothy Koskie of the University of Sydney noted that political misinformation predates AI, but synthetic videos now make subtle distortions appear more convincing. Koskie advocated holding creators accountable, citing the $650,000 fine imposed on platform X for breaching an Australian child-safety notice as a precedent for deterrence.
Moore has called on both the Victorian and federal governments to adopt truth-in-political-advertising legislation similar to measures already in place in the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. South Australian law bans AI-generated deepfakes that depict unauthorised actions in electoral ads, imposing penalties of up to $5,000. Moore also urged parties to embed AI watermarks, noting that only the Advance Australia video carried a disclaimer stating it was imagined by AI.
The Victorian Greens announced they will press for the adoption of South Australian-style truth-in-advertising rules on Thursday, with party leader Ellen Sandell asserting that voters deserve to know whether the audio and visual material presented by political parties is authentic. Sandell’s statement reflects growing pressure on legislators to address the rapid spread of synthetic political content ahead of the upcoming state election.