The Labor Party is allowing only a week for people to submit feedback on their plan to censor the Australian public with their “misinformation and disinformation” bill.

If you’d like to make a submission, you can do so here.

You can read Caldron Pool’s submission, written by Ben Davis and Rod Lampard, below:

Submission

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 is an affront to Australian democracy, which is contingent on the free and unhindered exchange of ideas.

Legislation policing “misinformation” threatens to undermine the entire democratic process as the public will be forced to self-censor opinions and beliefs online for fear of punishment, penalty, or having their accounts suppressed or suspended.

Censorship and the moderation of information are not an effective means of combatting misinformation, nor will it stop the spread of misinformation online. Rather, it will create an atmosphere of resentment and suspicion that will lead to “conspiracy theories” fomenting in channels that cannot be as easily challenged.

The best disinfectant to falsehoods is, and always will be, truth. When speech is free, and not under the regulation of Big Tech’s moderation teams operating under the threat of legal action, misinformation can be combatted and challenged in the open. The bigger the platform, the more openly it can be challenged and exposed.

Censorship has never, throughout history, been a weapon wielded by a righteous cause. While the government in power may feel the laws will enable them to “protect” the people from wrong-think, there is no guarantee that such powers cannot be abused by future bad actors within the government who wish to use them to maintain a particular political narrative.

This is of particular importance to every political party, given the fact that the bill defines “harm” to include any damage done to a government in power, federal or local, criticism of the government in power’s health measures, criticism of the banks, among other arbitrary speech restrictions.

While the government may lament the prevalence of misinformation and “conspiracy theories” online, what they fail to grasp is that these things are largely the product of perceived dishonest power – which was only heightened during the Covid-era.

When the government, or the mainstream media, lies to the public, by feeding them what many believe to be blatant propaganda, it creates a suspicious people hesitant to heed the warnings or advice from those who have previously abused their trust, even when they are speaking the truth.

As such, we do not need the government to curb our freedoms to protect us from potential dangers. Freedom has never been a danger to the people. It has always been a danger to the powerful.

Censorship doesn’t protect the people from the spread of “misinformation.” It protects state-approved information from being challenged. It silences critics, undermines “democracy,” and stifles dissent, ensuring that only one approved narrative prevails.

Additionally, the centralisation of information is anti-competitive.

This bill proposes a violation of the Competition and Consumers Act 2010.

Specifically, the Competition Principles Agreement which benefits consumers by encouraging competition, and discouraging acts such as monopolies, and market manipulation; or any act that would stop consumers from accessing a variety of products – in this case, media sources – by forcing a substantial decrease in competition.

The misinformation/disinformation bill is effectively a government boycott of a functioning fourth estate, to the benefit of a government “approved media” monopoly, not a well-informed Australian public.

Robert F. Kennedy’s warning to Americans in 2023 is apt:

Any  “Trusted News Initiative” –  something this bill will enshrine into law with the government at its head – would crush small news publishers who need Internet platforms ‘to compete and even to survive in the online news market.’

This bill is anti-competitive because it will deny small news publishers’ access to audiences in the media market by suppressing truth as “violence” and debate as “hate.”

Censoring the free flow of ideas, and evidence-based reasoning, as Kennedy explained, imposes a restraint on trade.

Under the false pretence of ‘public safety,’ this bill cancels out freedom of the press, stifles freedom of speech, and is a clear rejection of and free, and fair competition.

Ben Davis
Rod Lampard