Hello everyone,
As you likely know, the government’s draconian Misinformation/Disinformation Bill has been introduced to Federal Parliament. This bill is a dangerous attack on the rights of Australians to freedom of expression and will likely result in the censorship of much true and accurate information.
The bill is currently being considered by a Senate Committee and is open for submissions. You have just FOUR DAYS to make your voice heard.
This bill introduces broad and vague definitions of “misinformation” and “serious harm,” meaning much factual content will likely be censored. The definition of ‘serious harm includes:
Harm to the operation or integrity of a Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government electoral or referendum process
How many pages was the Uluru statement from the heart? Was it one or was it 26? Some would argue 1, some would argue 26. Who gets to decide what is true and what is false? Raising issue with the integrity of the Australian electoral System, could this be classified as harm?
Harm to public health in Australia, including to the efficacy of preventative health measures in Australia
The government told us the vaccines were safe and effective, they implied that taking the mRNA injection would stop transmission, yet we’ve seen many adverse events and death and we now know that the injection does not stop transmission.
We were told to mask up because masks would protect us, however, it has since been revealed that masks are ineffective. The government also told pregnant women that thalidomide was safe to treat nausea and morning sickness, only to see children born with deformed limbs and defective organs. At one time questioning thalidomide could have been seen as spreading misinformation.
Vilification of a group in Australian society distinguished by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin, or vilification of an individual because of a belief that the individual is a member of such a group
Latrobe University recently published a document online describing terms such as “biological man” and “biological woman” as “harmful myths”. Under this Bill academic content is excluded dissemination. But if you or I dared to say that gender theory was a “harmful myth”, could our opinion be silenced? This bill is a direct attack on freedom of expression.
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The bill has been referred to an inquiry which is now accepting submission from the public. If passed, this bill will impact your ability to speak freely online and will undoubtedly censor much factual and accurate content.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will have the power to dictate what is misinformation and what is disinformation, and they will be able to coerce social media companies (via threat of exorbitant fines) to remove content that they deem unacceptable.
Predictably, ‘professional news content’, aka the legacy media fall into the category of ‘excluded dissemination’. We all know by now how unreliable and untrustworthy legacy media are, particularly when it comes to their own agendas or pleasing their largest advertisers. This bill is yet to pass parliament, but time is ticking.
We need you to join us in the fight to protect your right to speak.
LODGING A SUBMISSION
The best way to ensure your voice is heard is to lodge a submission via the parliament website. This way, your submission is guaranteed to be reviewed. You do not have to create a digital ID as some people think – you simply create an account using an email address and name.
This is to verify you are a human and not a computer bot. Your submission can remain confidential if you wish. CLICK HERE to lodge your submission and please ask your friends and family to do the same.
Submissions can also be made via email to ec.sen@aph.gov.au
Sending an email is better than nothing but we do not recommend this. Please submit via the website if you can.
Lots of people have asked for a template, but templated submissions are detected and rejected. It must be your own words, but you can keep it really simple. Some tips for preparing your submission can be found HERE and if you are having any issues, please feel free to call my office on (03) 9070 1900.
Please also sign my petition against this bill HERE. Thank you for your support. May the government listen to the people. Long live free speech!
