Labor’s misinformation bill could see Australians jailed for a year, Coalition claims

Australians refusing to co-operate with “misinformation hearings” could be jailed for up to a year, the Coalition has claimed, while others slam Labor’s “big brother” bill.

Australians could be at risk of spending up to a year in jail if they refuse to co-operate with “misinformation hearings” in a stunning unintended consequence of Labor’s misinformation bill, the Coalition has claimed.

As previously revealed by The Daily Telegraph, experts have raised alarm bells over Communication Minister Michelle Rowland’s ability to order public hearings and investigations into misinformation.

In a dystopian twist, the Coalition has claimed that individuals linked to digital platforms could be imprisoned for a year if they do not co-operate with the hearings.

The Minister has powers to order the Australian Communication and Media Authority to call investigations and hearings into misinformation on digital platforms.

These hearings cannot apply to individual content creators but people affiliated with social media and digital platforms will be liable. Under section 202, if someone refuses to appear at misinformation inquiries or refuses to co-operate without a reasonable excuse — they can be jailed up to a year.

Communication Minister Michelle Rowland pictured during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Justin Quill is a partner at major law firm Thomas Greer and said extending the existing inquiry and imprisonment provisions to misinformation “opens up a Pandora’s box”.

“The Australian people should be very concerned about the Government’s attempts to curate public discussion by its citizens and potentially punish those the government feel step out of line,” he said.

“The legislation defines misinformation to mean anything that is ‘reasonably verifiable as false, misleading or deceptive’ – but by whose standards?

“Once they deem something false or misleading, it opens up a Pandora’s box of powers including the right to question people in ‘investigations’ and if someone doesn’t co-operate, potentially jail them.

“It smacks of ‘big brother’ or at least ‘big government’.”

Justin Quill said people should be extremely concerned about the Government’s attempt to “curate public discussion”. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman said applying the existing criminal penalties to misinformation hearings was a ”frightening” move”.

“The Minister is already seeking personal powers to order misinformation investigations and hearings,” he said.

“Now we discover – incredibly – that if people associated with digital platforms breach the misinformation laws it could also mean jail time.

“These are frightening powers against free speech.”

The government hit back, with a spokesman for Ms Rowland saying the bill is not aimed at punishing “individual online users” but rather the platforms themselves.

“The Bill is not about individual pieces of content or individual online users, but is, rather, directed at the systems and processes that are needed to minimise the spread of seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation,” they said.

“The Bill does not empower the ACMA to investigate content posted on a platform by a single end-user identifiable by the ACMA, or hold hearings relating to particular content posted on a platform by an end-user identifiable by the ACMA.

“The Bill is focused on ensuring that digital platforms have adequate systems and processes in place to combat online misinformation and disinformation.”

The Coalition is opposing the bill which will be debated in the house this week.

Originally published as Labor’s misinformation bill could see Australians jailed for a year, Coalition claims