David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's misinformation bill is a shocking betrayal of democracy. It has no place in our nation, and the coalition will oppose it with every fibre of our being. This is a terrible piece of legislation which gives digital companies a big financial incentive to censor the free speech of Australians on a wide range of issues, including elections and referendums. It's right there in the bill. This bill gives a minister of the Crown the personal power to order misinformation investigations and hearings.

I would encourage those opposite, if they haven't had a chance to read the bill their minister has put forward, to please do so. You might be surprised by some of the content. You might be surprised, for instance, to discover that if an ordinary Australian says something then that can be misinformation, but if an academic says the same thing then that can't be misinformation. You might be surprised, Mr Speaker, to discover that in this bill a wide range of things are covered and every Australian's free speech is at risk, because the digital companies have every incentive to censor material to comply with this bill. There's one place that this bill belongs, and that is the bin.