Subject: Coalition decision to oppose Labor’s Misinformation Bill
E&OE…
Laura Jayes: Welcome back, the Coalition says it will formally oppose Labor’s redrafted Misinformation Bill. The party claims the Bill is in danger, is a danger to free speech and that it would provide a financial incentive to online platforms to censor content. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made a very salient point about the potential for Labor to be caught up in its own Bill.
Audio Clip – Tony Abbott on 2GB: This whole question of what is misinformation, what is disinformation is just so difficult to pin down. For instance, was the Prime Minister’s claim during the election that he would reduce power bills by $275 per household per year, was that misinformation, an honest mistake, if you like, or was it disinformation, a deliberate untruth?
Laura Jayes: And that is a really good point. Joining me now is Shadow Communications Minister, David Coleman. So that is a real danger for Labor, they could have been caught up in their own Bill, couldn’t they? That’s a good example.
David Coleman: Yeah 100% Laura. And it just goes to the absurdity of this Bill. And this Bill has no place in Australia. It is an attack on free speech, and it belongs in the bin. Misinformation, the whole concept is inherently subjective, Laura. And the idea that a government regulator is going to effectively be telling Australians what they can and cannot say about politics, about the economy, about a whole range of issues, it just has no place in what is one of the greatest democracies on Earth. That hasn’t happened by accident, by the way, that we’re a great democracy. We must always defend those values and the Coalition will fight this Bill very hard.
Laura Jayes: But misinformation is a threat to democracy in and of itself as well. So what are you saying here? Are you saying that this is too hard to put into law? There are too many vagaries, what is your alternative?
David Coleman: Well look, the issue here, Laura, is that this Bill is just shocking. And the immediate task ahead of us, obviously, is to respond to a Bill that the Government’s just put out a couple of weeks ago and which, by the way, it’s only given Australians until Monday to comment on. And under this Bill, Laura, if you’re an academic speaking in the context of your job, what you say can’t be misinformation. But if you’re an ordinary Australian who criticised the academic or disagrees, that can be misinformation. And that is just patently unacceptable. You’ve also got a situation where the Minister can personally order investigations and hearings and in a democracy, the notion that an elected politician could order these investigations and hearings is just totally unacceptable.
Laura Jayes: But the Bill, the Bill was targeting the tech companies, not the individuals that use them?
David Coleman: Well that’s not quite right, Laura. The fines are for the tech companies, that’s correct. But think about how this is going to work in practice. So you are a tech company, you are facing fines of millions and theoretically, actually up to billions of dollars, if basically you don’t censor enough material. You can’t be fined for censoring too much material and if you’re a tech platform, do you care about the free speech of Australians? No, you don’t. But you do care about your profits. So what are you going to do? You’re going to censor a whole lot of stuff so you don’t fall on the wrong side of ACMA and so you don’t get those huge fines. And that’s the fundamental flaw with this whole structure. That’s what will happen and so the people who will suffer will be ordinary Australians who might have a view that maybe isn’t fashionable. Maybe it’s a view that expert opinion doesn’t agree with. But we let people in democracies express views if they’re unfashionable, if they’re controversial. But this Bill would very much threaten that.
Laura Jayes: But you’re talking about the politics of it. What about the misinformation that’s on these platforms that’s directed towards young people? And I ask this in the context because I know you’ve done a lot of work on the age limits for young people on social media platforms. There is a real danger here. So I understand the reasons why the Coalition is opposing this Bill. But for you to not offer an alternative, I mean, that needs to come sooner rather than later.
David Coleman: Well look, all of our policies across the whole gamut of areas will obviously be published in advance of the election. We’ve got a very strong record on online safety. We created the eSafety Commissioner. We created the online the Online Safety Act.
Laura Jayes: Don’t you think this is more urgent than that?
David Coleman: Well obviously we’re in Opposition, Laura, and the immediate task for us is to respond to what the government of the day wants to do. They want to make this Bill a law, this year.
Laura Jayes: Can you work with them? But can you work with them to get something passed this year, or are you just saying no that’s it?
David Coleman: Look, this Bill is rotten to the core, Laura. I mean, this is a terrible piece of legislation. It should not have been put forward by this Government. They had more than 20,000 people oppose the Bill put in submissions last time. They haven’t learnt their lesson and this is just something that’s beyond the pale.
Laura Jayes: Okay David, really good to talk to you. Enjoy your weekend. See you soon.
David Coleman: Thanks, Laura.