More than 1,000 protesters have gathered in Sydney to demonstrate against Labor’s misinformation bill, with speakers warning the controversial legislation will be the end of free speech in Australia.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the country’s most powerful Jewish group, also wants changes to the proposed laws, saying they do not go far enough to stop anti-Semitism, and social media “hate and extremism”.
The Save Free Speech – Stop Albo’s Misinformation and Disinformation Bill rally started at 11.30am on Saturday opposite the NSW Art Gallery and featured speeches from former Liberal MPs Craig Kelly and George Christensen and NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick, and began with a rendition of the national anthem.
Misinformation Disinformation Rally today 28/09 @ Speakers Corner Sydney @craigkellyXXX reading a letter on behalf of #AlanJones
Thank you 🙏🏻 #BurnTheBill pic.twitter.com/wtzQM288nf— 𝓙𝓲𝓶𝓶𝔂 🇦🇺🇬🇷 (@mitsos_corner) September 28, 2024
Mr Kelly read a letter from legendary broadcaster Alan Jones during his speech before dramatically burning a copy of the bill to cheers from the crowd, which spread from speaker’s corner, and incorporated two stages and a sausage sizzle.
“I am sorry I can’t be with you today,” Mr Jones’s letter began.
“As you are aware, I have had further surgery. I am just out of hospital and in rehabilitation, but I am not so indisposed as to ignore yet another legislative catastrophe being foisted upon us by a provenly incompetent federal government.
“These people must be stopped in their tracks. If we are serious about misinformation and disinformation, just look at the Covid period – every politician who argued in favour of lockdowns, compulsory vaccinations, keeping kids out of school – they should be in the dock. They were the agents of misinformation.”
Mr Ruddick warned that even with the support of the Coalition, which confirmed on Thursday it would oppose the bill, the votes of independent senators would be needed to prevent it passing the Senate.
“We could be by Christmas living under this regime, that means Australia will not be Australia anymore, it will be called ‘Albo-ralia’, because we’re going to have this big government telling you what you can and cannot say,” he said.
“If we just let this pass and do not resist it, it will just become a part of the culture of this country, and we will be on the slow journey to East Germany.”
. @JohnRuddick2 speaking at the rally against the Misinformation Bill in Sydney: “If we let this pass Australia will be on the slow journey to East Germany.” pic.twitter.com/C86BNxpMGY
— MilkBarTV (@TheMilkBarTV) September 28, 2024
Another speaker, on a separate second stage from the one used by the Libertarian Party, was heckled by the crowd after including a defence of Zionism and Israel in his call for freedom of speech.
Submissions on the legislation close on September 30, with Australians given just 12 days to send in their opinions and proposals, a timeline which Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope called “ridiculous”.
ECAJ president Daniel Aghion and co-chief executives Peter Wertheim and Alex Ryvchin made a joint submission proposing amendments to make the bill even harsher, The Australian reported.
“The Jewish historical experience in relation to misinformation and disinformation is that in the war of ideas, truth does not always prevail in the short to medium term,” the submission reads.
“The impacts of misinformation and disinformation are far more accentuated in an era where social media is so prevalent.”
The ECAJ also wants an ombudsman established to review complaints, and challenged the exemption for material shared for an “academic, artistic, scientific or religious purpose”.
“The importance of academic, artistic, scientific or religious discussions or debates should not outweigh the fundamental right of freedom from discrimination,” the submission says.
The ECAJ made similar comments about Labor’s new “hate crimes” bill, saying that legislation also did not go far enough and should be extended to criminalise anti-Semitic slogans.
Mr Cope said the legislation was “highly subjective”, “extremely broad” and would “lead to the suppression of the free speech of Australians”.
“Everyday Australians are captured by the bill, but some groups are excluded from its operation. For instance, any ‘reasonable dissemination’ of material for an academic, scientific, or artistic purpose is excluded from the bill, but if an everyday Australian disagrees with an academic, that can be ‘misinformation’,” he told The Australian.
“A government body is creating these codes, and these codes require the social media entities to remove misinformation and disinformation, that is information which is not true, and if they don’t, they’re subject to civil penalties.
“So the government – through the Australian Communications and Media Authority – is deciding what’s true and false and politics is full of all sorts of claims which are just value judgments.”
Header image: Craig Kelly, John Ruddick and George Christensen after burning copy of the bill, left. Mr Ruddick speaking to the crowd, right (Licensed by The Noticer from Chriscoveries)
