Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This one-term Albanese Labor government's Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 is a betrayal of democracy. The Labor government is debilitating our right to feel safe in Australia. The Labor government is debilitating our primary industries, our farmers and our fishers. It is debilitating our energy security. Those opposite cannot get inflation under control and are presiding over one of the biggest housing crises in history. Now, believe it or not, they are taking away our hardworking taxpayers' freedom of speech. What is the government's game? What are they up to?

Before I came to this place, I was the Mayor of the Whitsunday Regional Council. It was one of my very pleasing duties to perform citizenship ceremonies. Citizens came from all over the world to make the Whitsundays their home, and they came because they wanted to enjoy our rights and civil liberties. They wanted to enjoy freedom because, in their countries, a lot of them didn't have freedoms. They didn't have the choices that we do in Australia, so they came to Australia. The core of this was the freedom of speech, but now, unfortunately, it looks like the Albanese Labor government want to take away that freedom of speech. I never, ever thought that I would be standing up in this place defending the right to freedom of speech in this great country of ours. We on this side of the House find this to be an appalling attempt at legislation, and we will fight it tooth and nail—because it's deadset wrong.

Australians need to know what's in this bill. What will it do? It will impose huge fines on digital platforms if the government feel that the content of those platforms doesn't suit them. This means digital platforms will want to avoid those huge fines, so they will censor large amounts of free speech. That's right: they will censor free speech. I want the people in my electorate, the people of Dawson, to decide what content they want, what they want to read and what they want to watch. Let them make the choice. Let them do their research. Let them look at the facts. I don't want my people to have sanitised information. They can find out their own information and they can decide.

If this bill goes ahead, the Minister for Communications, personally, will be able to order misinformation investigations on her terms, at her choosing. This can be exploited. This can be used for political gain. These are extraordinary powers, and they are just not right. They have no place in Australia. This bill poses a significant threat to our democracy by giving excessive power to the Australian Communications and Media Authority to dictate what can and cannot be posted on digital platforms. The vague definitions of 'misinformation' and 'serious harm', coupled with severe penalties for noncompliance, create the potential for overcensorship. There have been thousands of submissions made to the Senate inquiry, but barely a fraction of these have been uploaded for public view, and we need to ask why. Let's look at some examples.

If you're an academic, something you say can't be misinformation, but if you're an everyday Australian who disagrees with an academic, what you say can be misinformation. I tell you what: in my part of the world I've got a lot of tradies and a lot of labourers, and I can guarantee you they're a lot more sensible than most of the academics in Canberra. They're the ones that go to work each day and make things happen. They dig the holes. They fix the electronics. They're the people that actually make it happen, not the people that sit around the office and dream about what might happen. We need to listen to the ordinary Australians, not the people from the Canberra bubble.

If a comedian says something, it cannot be misinformation, but an average Aussie who disagrees with a comedian can have their own opinion censored. Wow! You can't make this up. It is absolutely bizarre! Podcasters will need to check whether something they might be seeing has misinformation before they put it to air. The honestly held opinions of ordinary Australians can be treated as misinformation. This is a fundamental issue for our democracy. Voltaire once stated, 'I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' That is freedom of speech. Interestingly enough, there's a bit of conjecture about that. Some people say it came from Beatrice Hall, but, again, isn't it good that things can be challenged, that things can be discussed and talked about.

Some of the most interesting conversations you will ever have in your life are with people who don't agree with you. You can take their point of view on board, see what they have to say and, potentially, find a hybrid solution from the two points of view. Believe it or not, I actually listen to some of those on the opposite side of the House—maybe not Minister Bowen, but that's for very good reason, but I do generally listen to some of the information that comes from the other side and take the points of view on board. I think: 'Okay, maybe we can work with that. We can amend something. We can do something with that.' It's very, very important to listen, and that's what I do in my electorate. I listen to the people, but I also let—and expect—them have the freedom of speech to be able to look me in the eye and say: 'This is what we think. This is what we want you to do. Member for Dawson, you stuffed this up. We want you to do this.' I take that on board; I generally do.

The Labor government is ramming this legislation through, giving people barely a week to respond, so it can censor everyday Australians. This is so wrong. I believe in the right to engage in open and honest discourse online, and I fear this bill will stop our younger generation feeling confident to express their voices. It is not just me who thinks this. Scott Crawford of my electorate says, 'We don't need this. We need a new government'. Tick. Wendy Carroll says, 'The Prime Minister started this rubbish with the no vote. He didn't like people opposing what he was saying. the Prime Minister does not like the truth'. You're exactly right, Wendy. Through that divisive referendum that cost the taxpayers over $450 million, in my electorate over 80 per cent of the people voted no and then the people who voted no got accused of misinformation, saying the wrong thing. The fact of the matter is the people haven't got it wrong; people should be able to get all the information and make their own decisions, so, Wendy Carroll, you're exactly right.

Even from one of Labor's stronghold seats of Victoria, Victorian Bar made a scathing submission which warned this bill would undermine free speech and stifle discussions. Professor Nick Coatsworth said, 'We must equip our communities with tools to critically assess and judge information for themselves, not legislation.' That is what we do in Australia. We find our information, we get the facts, we think about it and then we make our own decisions. What about our diggers—our fine men and women—who have worn the uniform, put their bodies on the line, their lives on the line for this country to let us have our rights, our liberties, our freedom of speech? That's what they have gone and fought for. What must they be thinking now about the fact that we can have a government that can change things at the stroke of a pen? It is absolutely bizarre. I really implore those on the other side to think about this before they ram this vote through and think about our fine men and women who have defended our country, who have defended our rights, our liberties and our freedom of speech. This is so important to them and it's so important to me. I have received hundreds of emails from my constituents, all very concerned about what this bill does to our democracy.

Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, said if this bill didn't pass it would be threatening the safety and wellbeing of Australians. Sorry, Minister, but the only threat to Australians is your rigged legislation. It is hard to believe that any government in a democracy would put forward this bill. But the one-term Albanese Labor government have. Do you think it won't affect you? Well, think again. If you challenge the government's policies or criticise election outcomes, your posts will most likely be erased.

The coalition stands firmly opposed to Labor's misinformation bill because we believe in the right of free speech and we'll fight to defend those rights each and every day while we have breath in our bodies. My constituents of Dawson are standing with me on this one. Bin the bill; it is deadset wrong.

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