Coalition to fight against watchdog’s ‘Ministry of Truth’

A group of senior Coalition frontbenchers has joined a campaign against Labor’s proposed ‘Orwellian’ laws on misinformation.

Coalition frontbencher Dan Tehan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

A group of senior Coalition frontbenchers has joined a campaign against Labor’s proposed “Orwellian” laws on misinformation, warning the government could be given the powers to censor media organisations and tech platforms.

Shadow ministers David Littleproud, Dan Tehan, Barnaby Joyce and Bridget McKenzie have raised concerns over who would be the “arbiter of truth” as the government moves towards giving its media watchdog more powers.

The frontbenchers have joined opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson and several backbenchers in opposing legislation under which the Australian Communications and Media Authority could fine social media giants millions of dollars for misinformation and content it deemed “harmful”.

The move by the Coalition frontbenchers goes further than the formal party position, which is yet to be finalised.

Veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent wrote to Peter Dutton with his concerns over one of the most “egregious” pieces of legislation he had seen.

“This legislation will essentially enable ACMA to become the ‘Ministry of Truth’. In short, it will result in heinous, state-sanctioned surveillance and censorship,” he said in a letter late last month.

“I will be opposing this legislation with all my might and I trust the Liberal Party will do the same. I seek your urgent advice.”

Mr Dutton would not comment on the matter before the legislation went through the formal processes of partyroom.

Mr Tehan, a former education minister who pushed heavily for freedom of speech at universities, raised serious concerns as to “who ultimately would determine what is disinformation”. “That is the real worry,” he said.

The proposed laws will not allow ACMA to censor individual posts, with digital platforms continuing to be responsible for moderating the content on their services. Instead, the regulator would be able to seek information from the platforms about measures they have in place to address misinformation and disinformation, and develop an industry-wide code or standard if self-regulation fell short.

Mr Paterson has argued there are more “direct means of dealing with this problem without censoring Australians”, while fellow Liberal senator Claire Chandler accused the Albanese government of “choosing the path of censorship and oppression”.

Mr Joyce, a former leader of the Nationals, said there were a range of “potential dangers” posed by the legislation, which he warned could be used for political ends.

“They might say to not support global warming is misleading and illegal, when it’s just a different view,” he said.

“What’s morally at odds through your eyes is not morally at odds through my eyes. Who’s going to be the grand arbiter of where virtue and malice lies?”

Other Nationals MPs including Senator McKenzie and backbencher Keith Pitt said the draft law was “straight out of 1984” and “repudiated standards of free speech”, while Nationals leader David Littleproud said there were “real risks and perils” if the legislation wasn’t examined forensically.

The issue is expected to be raised directly with social media giants on Tuesday when they appear before a parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference through social media.

ACMA is also expected to be asked about the proposed law and how it would feasibly work when its executives appear on Wednesday.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the legislation risked minor parties and independents being silenced by major parties and that the ability to take down information that “harmed” people was an overreach.

“It’s not up to governments to decide what is misinformation and disinformation. It’s up to the people to decide that for themselves,” she said.

West Australian independent Kate Chaney said there was undoubtedly a need for regulation to curb misinformation being spread online, but any laws would need to remain “fairly conservative” in their interpretation of what constituted misinformation and disinformation.

“Made-up news articles, doctored images, these are categories people would universally feel need to be avoided,” she said. “If it strays into anything that could be considered opinion, it’d be problematic.”

The Greens broadly support the legislation though there were questions that remained unanswered. “The Greens are prepared to work with the government for reform to prevent misinformation and disinformation. However, this proposal is just an incremental step when what we need is wide scale reform of media regulation in Australia,” a spokesman for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the Coalition had declared it would move to keep Australians safe from misinformation and disinformation online before the last election. “The Albanese government is committed to holding digital platforms to account for seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation on their services,” she said.