Australia’s Labor government is under fire over its revised misinformation and disinformation legislation which critics have called “Orwellian” and a threat to free speech.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland introduced the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 to parliament on Thursday, claiming it includes strengthened free speech protections.
Ms Rowland said the bill would give the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) the power to “hold digital platforms to account” and make it easier for the government to stop “seriously harmful” misinformation and disinformation.
šØšš„ššššš”š: The āCombatting Misinformation & Disinformationā Bill has officially been introduced in the House of Representatives. pic.twitter.com/0rBMZLuwpA
ā Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) September 12, 2024
According the the draft legislation, serious harm includes vilification of a group or individual based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin.
Misinformation is defined in the bill as false, misleading or deceptive content that is likely to cause serious harm, while disinformation is misinformation that is disseminated with the intention to deceive or through “inauthentic behaviour”.
Parody or satire, professional news content, and the “reasonable dissemination of content for any academic, artistic, scientific or religious purpose” are excluded from the legislation.
Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly responded to the introduction of the bill on Thursday 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 Australiaās history,” he said on X.
Labor’s so called āCombatting Misinformation Billā has been introduced into the House of Representatives.
Concerning times for free speech in Australia.
Stay tuned for updates. pic.twitter.com/NhBn5ShxVd
ā 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].”
Ms Rowland said on Thursday that nothing in the bill enables ACMA to take down individual pieces of content or user accounts, and that digital platforms would remain responsible for managing content on their own services.
“Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy. Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an option,” she said on Thursday.
“The Government is committed to keeping Australians safe online, and that includes ensuring the ACMA has the powers it needs to hold digital platforms to account for misinformation and disinformation on their services.
“Following public consultation on the draft Bill last year, revisions have been made that carefully balance the public interest in combatting seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation with the freedom of expression that is so fundamental to our democracy.
“These revisions reflect that feedback and I look forward to seeing the Bill become law as we combat the threat of misinformation and disinformation.”
Pictured above: Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who is half-Fijian and regularly posts photographs of herself pandering to the Indian community in her minority-majority electorate.
