Russell Broadbent (Monash, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I hold petitions signed by 54,464 Australians who are vehemently opposed to the government's mis- and disinformation bill—people who rightly believe this bill is not only a grave threat to freedom of speech but also to our precious democratic values. I'll be delivering these petitions to the petitions committee today.

To every Australian who is standing up and speaking out against the government's unprecedented and unparalleled intrusion into our private lives, I say thank you. Hold the line and keep up the pressure. Government overreach is in plain sight, for all to see.

This bill should send a chill down the spine of every Australian. In my decades of service to this parliament I've never known such outrageous legislation, which I believe is both unconstitutional and breaches our human rights. It's simple maths. This mis- and disinformation bill plus the social media ban for children under 16 plus digital identity requirements equals tyrannical, state-sanctioned surveillance and censorship. Make no mistake, this is an election issue.

Australians know that these bills are an insidious assault on our nation's way of life, sneakily presented under the guise of keeping us safe, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are dangerous, they are a violation of our privacy and they are an ominous sign of what could be in store for the people of this nation.