Nick Xenophon may well help decide who forms the next government. Credit:Paul Jeffers The ads claimed Senator Xenophon wanted to cut penalty rates – a decision that is actually up to the Fair Work independent umpire. "It was a lie," Senator Xenophon said. "I had to put up corrective advertising, but nowhere near to the extent of their misleading advertising. Why should politicians be exempt from the sort of laws that apply to misleading and deceptive advertising that apply to corporations and individuals?" The Greens are also planning to move amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act to incorporate truth in advertising provisions. "Blatantly false political advertising runs counter to the public interest," Greens democracy spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said.

New research by progressive think tank The Australia Institute shows huge support for truth in advertising laws. In a national ReachTEL poll of 2875 people conducted last week, 87.7 per cent of people said they want the change. Just 5 per cent of people are against such laws and about 7 per cent were unsure. The institute's executive director, Ben Oquist, said the self-regulating system for truth in political advertising was abolished in 2002 and since then it has effectively been a "free-for-all". "It is time for an inquiry about how truth in political advertising could be implemented fairly, consistent with the constitution, in Australia," he said. "Political campaigning needs to be strong and robust, but it is time to have a fresh look at the system."

Perhaps not surprisingly in the wake of "Mediscare", 94 per cent of Coalition voters want the new laws. Just 78.3 per cent of Labor voters want tougher laws. While there is an implied freedom of political communication in the Australian constitution, Mr Oquist believes there is still scope for reform. Parliament did introduce such laws in the 1980s but quickly repealed them after finding them unworkable. Labor spent much of this year's campaign warning that the Liberals were planning to privatise Medicare. They ran three separate advertising campaigns on the issue, with one featuring former prime minister Bob Hawke. In fact the Coalition had merely formed a taskforce to examine how to update the Medicare payments system, with one option being outsourcing. But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has since conceded there was some "fertile ground" for the lie to take root because of the Coalition's historic approach to Medicare.

Advertising analysts Ebiquity says the political parties spent more than $13 million on ads during the campaign, with the Liberals and Labor accounting for 90 per cent of that. The Liberals outspent Labor by nearly 40 per cent, buying $6.9 million of ad space to Labor's $4.9 million. But Ebiquity says Labor was much more inclined towards negative advertising. A whopping 75 per cent of Labor's advertising was considered negative, to just 45 per cent for the Coalition. Labor ran its first negative ad on day one of the campaign – "Seriously out of touch – Malcolm Turnbull" – while the Coalition did not run a negative ad until almost a month into the campaign. Pressure groups and trade unions spent another $5 million, with the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Business Council of Australia at the top of the pile. Almost 70 per cent of all ads came in the final two weeks.