Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I would vote with my conscience and vote that I'm not a perfect person—and I would be joined by you, no doubt. But I do believe that a person called Jesus Christ died, was crucified and rose three days later. Many people would say that that is entirely unreasonable. They would say that that's against science, that it's unprovable. They would say a whole range of things about that. But that is my belief, and I'm allowed to have it. I don't ask you to believe it; you can do what you like. But I'm allowed to believe it, I'm allowed to read it, I'm allowed to write about it and I don't want the government involved in it. I don't want the government anywhere near my belief structure. They could line scientists up from here to Goulburn saying that everything I have said is unprovable, unreasonable and not the truth. But—absolutely, 100 per cent—I believe it, and that is my right. It's also the right of about two billion other people who believe the same thing.

You can see where our concern is with this, and I think the prudent thing to do is to reaffirm to the Australian people that you have no intention of going into that space. You show you have no intention of going into that space by removing this bill, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024, from the agenda.

Of course if you don't, I and others will run a very strident campaign against this. On our side, on these sorts of things, we have success; you saw it in the Voice. You are seeing it right now with intermittent power. Intermittent power has gone from something that everybody supported, or 70 per cent supported. Now even Jennie George doesn't support it. It's just fallen flat on its face; it's absolutely falling out of bed at the moment.

If I can't appeal to the logic, let me appeal to your political nous. If you, the government, go forward to an election with this, we will absolutely hammer you and we will get votes. We will peel them off—100 per cent. It's not that the public like us or that the public don't like you. They don't like either of us. They have a cynicism against people in government. This bill that is proposed here says that the government knows what you should personally believe. It says that the government will determine what is reasonable for you to believe and that the government will allow you to read certain things and not read other things, because they will be the arbiters of the truth. That is why I find it so important that I have come out of my room to speak on this and make sure that we get this. I will put up on Facebook. I don't give a rump. I bet you it gets knocked out of the park. You'll have 2,000 likes or 3,000 likes and a thousand shares. As you know, member for Riverina and member for Moncrieff, who sits beside me—Angie and I go back a long way—these are the sorts of things, when you put them out there, you will get an overwhelming response. I bet you, if you go out there and say you are supporting this—

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