Erin Molan: Labor is abusing the online abuse laws I fought for to censor reality

I fought for the Online Safety Act but the way it is being used by the government to censor the news instead of protecting victims from abuse is not what it was meant for, writes Erin Molan.

If you had suggested to me six months ago that I’d be writing in defence of X (formerly Twitter) and against the Australian government I would have declared you were dreaming.

“Not a snowflake’s chance in hell,” would have perfectly summed up my feelings on the matter. No chance.

Yet here I am, doing that exact thing.

The irony isn’t lost on me either … the government is currently using the Online Safety Act to prosecute X — the very legislation I advocated for and which former prime minister Scott Morrison called Erin’s Law.

I am no fan of social media giants, in fact quite the opposite.

I’ve been brutal on many occasions when it comes to my assessments of how they operate and the damage they do – particularly to young Australians.

It’s why I fought so hard and pushed so far for new laws.

Police investigating after a mob descended in Wakeley after Assyrian Bishop Emmanuel Mar Mari was allegedly stabbed in a terror-related incident. Picture: Rohan Kelly

These laws are capable of taking decisive and powerful action, and I’m incredibly proud of the world-first legislation this country produced but I can’t agree with the government on this interpretation.

Yet now our government wants to stop the entire world from viewing the vision of the alleged stabbing in Western Sydney this month, a stance I oppose.

Let me explain.

Then-prime minister Scott Morrison and Erin Molan at a press conference at Penshurst Girls High School to discuss the Online Safety Act. Picture: NCA NewsWire

There is a difference between violence being used to threaten, intimidate or incite, and the showing or exhibiting of a violent act.

If the images of the alleged stabbing were being used in the context of any of the above three aims then the laws should apply, but if displaying the footage is in the context of a factual depiction of what occurred then consenting adults should be able to make that choice.

We live in a dangerous world and if we can’t show people the result of radicalisation, or the danger lurking within our own communities, then how can we stop it?

Again – let me be clear – if the vision is being used to threaten, intimidate or incite that crosses the line – but as it is now – shown on multiple news sites all over the world, I don’t underhand why social media needs to be exempt from that.

It happened, and hiding it doesn’t change that.

Some of the images of the horrors the world has endured have achieved iconic status and are etched indelibly in our minds.

Sir Peter Cosgrove watching on as the children make Anzac Day craft at Little Diggers pre-school at an RSL Anzac Village at Narrabeen. Picture: Richard Dobson

These images often reflect a hostile world, the real world, and every viewing should reinforce our personal and national determination to fight for the peaceful, just society our Anzacs bequeathed each and every Australian.

Which brings us to Anzac Day, the most significant day on our annual calendar

It doesn’t matter whether you lean to the left or right politically, whether you pray to Allah, God or no one, or whether you earn a million dollars a year or nothing – the fact you live in this wonderful, prosperous and free country means you should agree.

The freedoms we enjoy today to be different, to disagree, to protest, all come from the spilt blood of our forebears – of our fathers and mothers, of our sisters and brothers, and our sons and daughters.

If Australians choose to work on Australia Day or the Kings birthday – so be it.

I can accept differences of opinion regarding such matters, but what I can’t cop is the same discretionary attitude being applied to the only day we stop to remember the only reason we are still here.

The Australian Public Service now allows its (federal) workforce to ‘opt in’ on working on Anzac Day and take another day off in lieu.

A long weekend maybe, or a midweek getaway of their choosing? No.

We cannot force Australians to care, and nor should we, but if we continue to dilute the significance of this day then we disrespect all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the existence of our nation as it is today, and those who have put up their hands to do so in the future.

Honestly, at the very least our federal public servants should be guaranteeing the preservation of the reverence and symbolism of Anzac Day.

Because the day is not about glorifying war nor an occasion to debate the validity of conflicts fought … we have 364 other days in the year to do that.

It is one day, just 24 hours, to stop in a way we choose and pay tribute.

Where we pay our respects to all those who have fallen, those they left behind, and those who have served or are still serving.

We are a diverse country and not everyone will share our views, but that should never stop us, as a nation, from upholding the traditions and values that make us uniquely Australian … and the envy of the entire very threatening and complex world.

Join me for ‘Erin’ on Sky News Australia this afternoon at 5pm – my special guest John Schumann will perform his iconic hit I was only 19 live!