Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question, although I was anticipating a cost-of-living question. I'm very happy to respond in relation to the legislation that the government did withdraw today, and I thank Senator McAllister for her handling of that. I will say three things: first, the minister issued a statement in relation to this on the weekend; second, Senator McAllister, who is the representing minister, spoke today about the issues. Obviously, the bill did not have the support of the chamber, which is why the government made the decision to withdraw it. What I would say to you, Senator McKenzie, and this is a serious question, is that our democracy is under threat and at risk from foreign interference, foreign disinformation and misinformation, including—as people might remember—Russian bots and campaigns—