Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024. This is an important bill that will seek to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to protect Australians from online harm, an issue prevalent in our society today. This bill will make amendments to the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the Online Safety Act 2021.

In today's world, this bill is needed to ensure there is transparency and accountability around the efforts of digital platforms in combating mis- and disinformation on their services. The reality is we just don't know what these platforms are doing or what systems they have in place to prevent the spread of harmful information. As a mum of a son who has just finished year 12, I know how harmful misinformation and disinformation are to our children and young people. The widespread adoption of digital platforms means that our children and young people are exposed to all sorts of information with varying degrees of facts and factual information.

There is no doubt that social media has brought many benefits to us as individuals, and as a community it enables us to connect with family and friends beyond traditional geographic boundaries across the world. We can keep up to date with those we love who may not live near us and be digitally present for the most important moments in their lives. We can create community groups that connect with our friends, sporting groups and neighbours, building a thriving and connected community. As members of parliament, we rely heavily on digital platforms to increasingly communicate important information with our constituents. This began some years ago with a simple photo; now most of my colleagues are creating videos and reels to share important information.

These facts can exist while acknowledging that digital platforms in their current form are also causing significant harm to people in our community because these platforms lack regulatory systems and processes to hold them accountable. Regulation will ensure that information shared on digital platforms is factual, not mis- or disinformation. This is incredibly important because digital platforms can be a vehicle that spreads misleading and false information that is seriously harmful to Australians, in particular children, young people and older people.

There have been some concerns about the right to freedom of expression being impacted because of the introduction of this bill. I've heard this from constituents from Dunkley who have contacted my electorate office to convey their concerns. But we know this: Australia is the best democracy in the world, and I welcome the opportunities I get to meet and hear from people in my electorate. People in this country can exercise their right to freedom of speech. One such opportunity lies in their ability to contact local MPs electorate offices to give their opinions and recommendations, as they have done recently in relation to this bill.

To those who have been contacting my office to oppose this bill, you have been and will continue to be given the time of day at my office and we will continue to listen to your concerns, ideas and suggestions on this and many other issues. You will continue to have the opportunity to leave ideas and thoughts in the comments of my digital pages, as long as they are respectful. This is not going to change, because the right to freedom of expression is fundamental to our democracy. It is a right our government takes very seriously. It is a right that I take very seriously.

This bill does not jeopardise people's individual rights to freedom of expression. Rather, it is focused on taking action to ensure that digital platforms have measures in place to stop the rapid spread of seriously harmful mis- and disinformation. That sort of information poses a significant threat to the wellbeing of people of all ages and challenges the functioning of societies around the world.

This is a step in the right direction for many community advocates who have lived experience of the harms of digital platforms. Take, for example, the initiative of Wayne Holdsworth, who members of parliament may know from his organisation SmackTalk and who recently launched Unplug24. Unplug24 was established by Wayne Holdsworth, a local Dunkley legend, whose son took his own life last year after being sexually extorted online. Mac was a 17-year-old boy with his life ahead of him. Wayne, despite his grief, has dedicated his time to sharing his own story to support other young people and parents to understand the dangers and threats that digital platforms can pose without proper systems, processes and regulations in place. Digital platforms in the hands of the wrong people can spread mis- and disinformation, which impacts individuals' wellbeing and—in the case of Wayne's son, Mac—can be very harmful, to the extent that it can end in the tragic loss of life.

This bill and the amendments act to address some of these challenges. It acts to provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority with new powers to ensure there is transparency and accountability around the efforts of digital platforms in combating mis- and disinformation on their services. Currently, digital platforms are not open about this information, with little accountability for what measures they actually have in place on these platforms to prevent mis- and disinformation. This bill delivers on the promise that ACMA powers meet community expectations. This bill will give ACMA the powers to assess the digital platforms' systems and processes to prevent harmful information dissemination and improve transparency about what actual measures platforms have in place to protect Australians from the harm associated with mis- and disinformation on their services.

We are intent on protecting Australians and preventing and improving with this bill. Put simply, the bill seeks to improve our voluntary code by providing a regulatory safety net if digital platforms fail to provide adequate protections for the community and its people. This bill will impose transparency obligations. Digital platforms will be required to be honest about what they are doing on their service to combat mis- and disinformation.

The proposed government amendments would establish new obligations for digital platforms to make available their policy approach, to share their data for the purposes of research and to empower ACMA to make digital platform rules regarding the publication of data access policy approaches. There would also be new provisions which would enable ACMA to create digital platform rules that would require digital platform providers to operate a data access scheme for independent research. The scheme would be centred on data relating to the identification, assessment and mitigation of misinformation and disinformation risks on the relevant platform.

The Labor government is taking the need to protect and support community members from the harms of content on digital platforms seriously. This bill sits alongside many other measures, including the introduction of age limits for young people. We must build better systems and tools for digital platforms to regulate them and to hold them accountable for disseminating factual information. We must mitigate misinformation that erodes trust, safety and transparency. We must mitigate misinformation that erodes democracy to keep democracy alive. This bill is about ensuring we have facts, not fiction, to inform our democracy and to keep Australian citizens safe.

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