Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Even in the United States, Fox News had to then shell out hundreds of millions of dollars, because they knew that those fraudulent claims that had been perpetrated had gone too far, as far as the law was concerned. But we all saw what it meant for democracy when we watched those riots unfold and heard the perpetual claim that, somehow, an election had been stolen. That continued for a very long time, and that's just one part of the mis- and disinformation that has been promoted by Rupert Murdoch over many, many years, aiding the likes of Donald Trump.

But come back here, closer to home, and you'll understand there is a reason that scientists have described Rupert Murdoch as a climate villain who has used his television and newspaper empire to promote climate science denial and to delay action. After the horrific Black Summer bushfires, we saw a very strong move to say, 'It was nothing to do with climate'—apparently, it had something to do with hazard reduction burning—so much so that even James Murdoch came out and called out the climate denialism that was on show from Rupert Murdoch in the aftermath of the Black Summer fires. Even James Murdoch called it out. The scientists have a reason for saying this. As Joelle Gergis, a climate scientist at ANU, said, 'It is hard to think of another person who has single-handedly done more to muddy the public's understanding of climate change.'

As we look around the world now and see cars washed up in streets in Spain and see extreme weather events unfolding before us with rapid speed and catastrophic implications, we can jump into a Rupert Murdoch newspaper and find commentators saying things like, 'The climate crisis turns out not to exist.' That's according to what Andrew Bolt wrote.

It is this mis- and disinformation coming from Rupert Murdoch that led Kevin Rudd to call for a royal commission into the Murdoch empire and the power of the Murdoch empire. He rightly identified that as a means to tackle mis- and disinformation and its incredibly toxic and damaging effects which see not only violence in the United States but also climate denial and delay here as the climate crisis gets even worse, even as commentators write in these papers that, apparently, the climate crisis turns out not to exist. It is why half a million people in this country signed a petition backing Kevin Rudd's call for that royal commission. Other former prime ministers have spoken out about the problems with Murdoch media dominance in this country as well.

Billionaires are controlling all the platforms at the moment. If we want to tackle mis- and disinformation and if we want to ensure that in this country people can trust the information that they are getting, but also, critically, know that big power comes with responsibility when you run a media empire, why does Rupert Murdoch get a free pass from Labor's bill? People are entitled to know that operators aren't using it to fuel misinformation and disinformation. You can see it happening. There's this ecosystem that exists between the conservative commentators on Rupert Murdoch's payroll and then others who are offline as well. They feed on each other and amplify each other. It's why Chris Cooper, a director at Purpose, rightly said when talking about After Dark that Sky News Australia was now having a 'disproportionate contribution to global climate misinformation' and that 'we see the content shared through denier networks across the globe'. As he said:

Nobody is against freedom of speech. But this is about the amplification and broadcast of what's clearly disinformation, and that is the problem here.

So I say to the government, as this bill progresses through the Senate, if you want to tackle mis- and disinformation, why aren't you looking at Rupert Murdoch? Why aren't you looking at Rupert Murdoch, when even Kevin Rudd has said that that is where we've got to start if we're serious about it? Why does Rupert Murdoch get a free pass? We can probably infer why. We know that Labor, the Liberals and the Nationals are Murdoch cowards. But there's a chance to do something about it. Listen to what people like Kevin Rudd are saying.

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