A Queensland senator has slammed Labor’s misinformation bill for attempting to outlaw criticism of the banking system.
Gerard Rennick, who resigned from the Liberal National Party earlier this year to launch People First, spoke out after the controversial bill was introduced earlier this week.
On Thursday Mr Rennick wrote that the bill needed to be “killed stone cold dead” and followed up with a post on Friday warning of a section relating to information about the financial system along with an excerpt of the draft legislation.
That highlighted section states that “serious harm” as defined in the bill includes “imminent harm to the Australian economy, including harm to public confidence in the banking system or financial markets”.
“This Misinformation Bill is something else. Fancy trying to censor criticism of the banking system and the financial markets,” Mr Rennick wrote on his social media pages.
“What’s so concerning is how on earth did that clause even get into the bill. Have the private banks and superannuation funds infiltrated the government to such an extent that they are now dictating what people can say?
“The banks and superannuation funds are even more powerful than I thought! Governments are clearly no longer interested in serving the people.”
Labor has been heavily criticised over the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 which was presented by Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland on Thursday.
The Coalition appears likely to oppose the revised bill, with lawyers also warning of its consequences for free speech.
Opposition communication spokesman David Coleman told The Australian there were serious concerns over a provision in the bill allowing the minister to personally order “misinformation” investigations.
“That is an extraordinary provision in a democracy. We will review this bill carefully – but we will always stand up for the free speech of ordinary Australians,” he said.
🚨𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The ‘Combatting Misinformation & Disinformation’ Bill has officially been introduced in the House of Representatives. pic.twitter.com/0rBMZLuwpA
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) September 12, 2024
Peter A Clarke, Victorian barrister and president of the Voltaire society, shared Mr Rennick’s concerns about sections relating to the banking and financial system, and the provisions about “vilification” of protected groups.
“This is just a means of applying race hate legislation by stealth in this online setting,” he said.
“It is so broadly drawn, it seeks to basically create a speech code as to what is acceptable conversation regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity. Just take gender identity – the whole debate is swirling, and is changing all the time.”
Barrister and university law lecturer Sophie York said the legislation could “destroy your democracy from the backdoor” by allowing the government to decide what information was true.
“Some things may turn out to be false, but also the government narrative may turn out to be false,” she said.
Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly responded to the bill by saying that if Australia had constitutional free speech protections equivalent to the US First Amendment, the legislation would be invalid.
“This is dark day for our nation, as this the most dangerous piece of legislation introduced to Parliament in Australia’s history,” he said on X.
Labor’s so called “Combatting Misinformation Bill” has been introduced into the House of Representatives.
Concerning times for free speech in Australia.
Stay tuned for updates. pic.twitter.com/NhBn5ShxVd
— Senator Alex Antic (@SenatorAntic) September 12, 2024
Liberal Senator for South Australia Alex Antic said the bill showed these were “worrying times for free speech” and that he was concerned about how it would be combined with the government’s new Digital ID system.
“[The bill is] troubling in the framework of what’s going on around the world, we’re seeing interventions from government in places like Brazil, and we’ve seen the government proposing social media bans for children here,” he said.
“Safety can’t be used as a Trojan horse for cracking down on free speech, so a lot of concerns there, a lot of concerns how that will roll out with Digital ID.
“And we saw what happened with the Digital ID bill that was passed by this government, earlier in the year they effectively just forced it through the Senate without any debate, I really hope that’s not going to be the case with [this bill].”
