Straight out of ‘1984’: Labor’s ministry of truth bill slammed
The government’s plan to tackle online “misinformation” has been called “totalitarian” and likened to the George Orwell novel 1984, with submissions on the proposal running more than 20 to one against the idea.
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The government’s plan to crack down on online “misinformation” has been called “totalitarian” and likened to the George Orwell novel 1984, with publicly released submissions to a consultation on the proposal running more than 20 to one against the idea.
Under the proposal, the government would be able impose heavy fines on social media platforms that allowed posts the government deemed “harmful” and allow bureaucrats to force testimony from individuals alleged to have spread “misinformation.”
However the government, along with certain other groups including journalists and academics, would be exempt from the rules around “misinformation”.
While a reported 23,000 responses were received to the public consultation on the bill, only a small handful were released last Friday after parliament rose for a four week break despite a promise to post the submissions in “early September”.
Analysis of the submissions reveals that of the responses posted as of Saturday, 126 were negative, five were in favour of the bill, three were neutral, and another 10 were not actually relevant to the proposed law.
One commenter wrote, “Generally, the public is able to discern truth from misinformation – but only having the liberty to view both sides of the argument.”
“Removing either one is going down the path of totalitarianism.”
Another wrote raising concerns that the term “misinformation” was being weaponised by governments around the world to silence critics, saying, “while it’s imperative to counter the spread of false information, it is equally important to guard against the weaponisation of these labels in a way that undermines democratic debate.”
One commenter simply sent an image of George Orwell’s classic novel about an all seeing, all powerful government that tried to control even the thoughts of its citizens saying, “Make 1984 fiction again.”
However not all were opposed.
One in favour of the new law said that it was needed to counter the “far right” and “supporters of Donald Trump.”
“I have believed for some time now that this should have been done a long time ago.”
In August the NSW Council for Civil Liberties said the bill “does not sufficiently consider freedoms of expression and assembly,” while the Australian Human Rights Commission said it held “serious reservations”.
Shadow communications minister David Coleman said “Australians know danger when they see it, and this bill is dangerous”.
“It’s no surprise that the submissions released so far comprehensively slam the bill, but more than 99 per cent of submissions and comments still haven’t been released,” Mr Coleman said.
“The Prime Minister promised to run a transparent government but there’s no transparency here.
“This is a mess made entirely by the Albanese government, and there’s only one way to fix it: Bin the bill.”
Communications Minister Michele Rowland was contacted for comment.
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