Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answers to all coalition questions during the course of question time. Let me say this: what a great honour it is to kick this off on the very day that the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 died in the Australian parliament, after thousands and thousands of Australians contacted their senators and local representatives and said, 'Kill the bill.' Well, the bill is dead; however, the answers given by Senator Wong to Senator McKenzie's questions did not instil confidence that the bill will not make a reappearance in some guise sometime in the future.

I appreciate that Senator Wong wasn't the responsible minister for this absolute debacle. It was the Minister for Communications. I went back and read the minister's statement yesterday, when she withdrew the bill from today's Notice Paper today, and this is what the minister said: 'It is clear there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate.' That's what the minister said. Does that give anyone confidence that the Labor government have had some sort of Damascene conversion and have decided to stand up for freedom of speech in this country? Does it give anyone any confidence that they've actually listened to the thousands of Australians who made submissions, saying they did not want this piece of legislation? No—absolutely not.

The only reason they've withdrawn this legislation is that they didn't have the votes. They haven't changed their philosophical position. They haven't changed their position that ACMA, a government agency—which should be known as the 'Ministry of Truth' under this proposal—should have a role in telling us what is misinformation or disinformation. They haven't changed their philosophical position on this at all. The only thing that has changed is that they don't have the votes, and the Minister for Communications made that very clear in the statement she issued yesterday. I'll repeat it: 'It is clear there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate.' There's not a single piece of recognition that thousands upon thousands of Australians wrote to their representatives and said they didn't want this bill.

This bill represented an attack on the free speech of all Australians. It represented giving a government agency, ACMA, the power to decide what was misinformation or disinformation, as opposed to all Australians having the freedom to make that judgement in the battleground of ideas. That's what this bill sought to do. It was an intrusion on freedom of speech in this country, and, along the way, it had some absolutely outrageous provisions.

Firstly, the communications minister could have personally ordered misinformation investigations and misinformation hearings on terms of her own choosing. The Minister for Communications would have become the commissar of free speech, deciding what was and wasn't legitimate free speech. She would have been able to order investigations—show trials—into what was or wasn't free speech. Secondly, if people didn't cooperate with the public hearings ordered by the minister, they could have faced jail for up to one year—absolutely extraordinary stuff buried in the provisions of this awful piece of legislation, which died a legislative death today. Thirdly, religious groups and faith based groups were concerned that the bill would have impinged upon freedom of religion. They were concerned the bill would have empowered digital platforms and government bureaucrats to determine whether or not a religious belief was 'reasonable'—again, overstepping the mark in terms of legitimate activity of the Australian government.

I say to all of those thousands of Australians who wrote to their federal representatives and senators: you made a profound difference in relation to this bill dying a legislative death today.

I also repeat what I said to many of you in response: if this bill ever makes a reappearance, I will oppose this bill, I will vote against this bill and I will always speak out against this bill.