Rita Panahi: Radical-student-turned-career-politician Anthony Albanese presses ahead with unapologetically hard left agenda

From the moment he took office, Anthony Albanese has pressed ahead with an agenda that is not only anti-free speech but will enshrine racial privilege in the nation’s Constitution.

In the lead up to the 2022 election Anthony Albanese, the radical-student-turned-career-politician from Labor’s socialist left faction, did his utmost to convince the electorate that he was a moderate.

We were promised a safe pair of hands and a departure from the failed Bill Shorten platform of 2019 that spooked the electorate and saw Labor lose another unlosable election.

We even had Albo on the front page of Australia’s highest selling tabloids with the headline ‘I am not woke’ promising to reject ‘woke left’ dogma and deliver for mainstream Australia.

But as soon he took office Albanese, who has never worked a day outside of politics, pressed ahead with an unapologetically hard left agenda with barely a modicum of resistance from either the opposition or his comrades in the media.

Indeed, the agenda became apparent on election night with the incoming prime minister mentioning his commitment to implement “the Uluru Statement from the heart in full” in the opening sentence of his victory speech.

The agenda became apparent on election night with the incoming prime minister mentioning his commitment to implement “the Uluru Statement from the heart in full”. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams

That would be the so-called voice that will see racial privilege enshrined in the nation’s Constitution and then “truth telling” and treaty and all that entails.

And, to give credit to the Albanese government, unlike their often confused and unprincipled predecessors, they have not wasted a day in power in pushing their agenda, the latest measure being the radical “disinformation” legislation.

Of course it helps when the overwhelming majority of the media give their like-minded brethren in Labor a soft run, but the PM has also benefited enormously from the Liberal party running dead on a number of issues.

Heck, it took the Peter Dutton-led opposition ten months to come to a firm position on the race-based referendum; a policy they should’ve rejected on principle on day one.

And, similarly the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill should be rejected not just by the opposition but every thinking Australian who values free speech and remembers the last three years.

The bill will supposedly tackle misinformation by empowering ACMA to fine digital platforms up to $6.88m but the government’s proposal is so outrageously Orwellian that it has been lampooned internationally.

Even best-selling author Dr Jordan Peterson mocked the proposal tweeting: “Hey peasants, your opinions, hell, your facts are fake news.”

Anthony Albanese has not wasted a day in power in pushing his agenda. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland must think Australians are uniquely stupid to need such ‘protections’.

“Mis and disinformation sows division within the community, undermines trust, and can threaten public health and safety,” she said.

“The Albanese Government is committed to keeping Australians safe online, and that includes ensuring the ACMA has the powers it needs to hold digital platforms to account for mis and disinformation on their services.”

Labor’s bill is anti-free speech, sinister and the sort of backward policy you’d expect in despot nations, not a free country that values democratic principles.

The last three years have taught us that sometimes the biggest disseminators of dangerous disinformation are government agencies, public health bureaucrats and the so-called expert class.

We were fed a steady diet of hyperbole, untruths and straight out lies during the pandemic while some of the leading genuine experts, including Oxford, Stanford and Harvard medical school professors were silenced, censored and smeared because they questioned the efficacy of lockdowns, mask mandates, school closures and raft of other disastrous public health responses to Covid-19.

What they said was considered “dangerous disinformation” in 2020 and 2021 but has become widely accepted as fact in 2023.

Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland must think Australians are uniquely stupid to need such ‘protections’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Sadly, when it mattered most voices like Professors Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff and Sunetra Gupta were heavily censored by social media platforms at the behest of government agencies.

Meanwhile, we were told Covid vaccines would stop transmission, and that playground bans, curfews and outdoor mask mandates would keep us safe.

Heck, the premier even scolded Victorians for watching the sunset on the beach.

None of that was considered misinformation, in fact those of us who railed against the mass insanity and pointed to the societal, economic and health costs of these measures were accused of undermining the safety of the community and censored or sometimes banned from social media sites.

Instead of learning from that shameful period, the Australian government together with the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant seem determined to double down on the lunacy.

Ms Grant has a history of making deeply illiberal comments that have seen her go viral including at last year’s World Economic Forum conference in Davos where she talked of “a recalibration of a whole range of human rights” including free speech.

Surely we should expect better from a commissioner collecting a taxpayer funded salary of $444,983 a year.