Labor is out to gag opponents, says Warren Mundine on misinformation bill

Anthony Albanese is facing claims his government wants to ‘silence their opponents’ during election campaigns through proposed laws to combat misinformation.

Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine says Australians could work out what was and wasn’t true when elections were on. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Anthony Albanese is facing claims his government wants to “silence their opponents” during election campaigns through proposed laws to combat misinformation, as teal MPs demand tougher reforms to strengthen Australia’s electoral system.

Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine said Australians could work out what was and wasn’t true when elections were on, after senior government ministers accused opponents of the Indigenous voice to parliament of pushing misinformation and disinformation.

Under the government’s draft Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, the communications watchdog would be able to target disinformation on a digital platform from an unauthorised source.

Electoral communications and referendum content would be out of its scope.

“They’re not just putting up this bill because they’re nice. They’re putting up this bill because they want to silence their opponents,” Mr Mundine said.

“It is the most dangerous bill because every cornerstone of every liberal democracy with freedoms and liberties is free speech.”

Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman said Labor MPs labelled opinions they didn’t like or didn’t agree with as misinformation throughout the referendum debate.

“The government’s misinformation bill would significantly ­restrict political debate, including during election campaigns – unless you are a government MP, in which case you are exempt,” Mr Coleman said.

“It is an appalling bill which the experts agree will seriously damage free speech in Australia.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the bill was not targeted at individual users or pieces of content, but on ensuring digital platforms have “systems and processes in place to keep Australians safe from seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation online”.

The bill was drafted in response to a 2019 Australian Competition and Consumer Comm­ission recommendation for enforcement powers online.

“The draft bill sets a very high bar of “serious harm” for what is in scope of the definition of mis­information and disinformation,” Ms Rowland said.

“The measures in the draft bill preserve freedom of expression and political communication so important in our democracy.”

South Australian independent MP Rebekha Sharkie said she had constituents on both sides of the debate who complained about misinformation and disinformation from the opposing camp.

“Should the government choose to introduce legislation for ‘truth in advertising’ for elections, I will consider such a bill carefully but would also cautiously ask ‘who becomes the arbiter of truth?’ “ Ms Sharkie said.

Teal MP Allegra Spender said the referendum demonstrated the urgent need for Australia to legislate for truth in political advertising and it was a mistake not to support Zali Steggall’s “Stop the Lies” private member’s bill.

“If the government is genuine about electoral law reform, it must legislate for real transparency on donations and truth in political advertising,” she said.

“Whilst Australians knew the referendum result a little over an hour after polls closed, we won’t know who funded the campaigns for another six months. Even then, much of the information will remain hidden due to the loop­holes and carve-outs in our ­donation disclosure regime.”

Ms Steggall said she’d been ­inundated with correspondence from her constituents pushing for voter protections in political advertising. She plans to reintroduce her private member’s bill when the House of Representatives next sits in November.

“Interestingly, (the correspondence was) from people from both sides of the referendum debate, who feel that both sides used advertising that was misleading and deceptive. Clearly, all sides will benefit from better standards,” Ms Steggall said.

“Currently, commercial conduct and promotions or advertisements that contain false and misleading information and statements that fail to disclose important information are considered misleading and deceptive but the same requirements are not in place for political advertising.”

Teal MP Zoe Daniel said the crossbench asked the Prime Minister to legislate for truth in advertising before the referendum campaign began.

“The government did not and we have seen the consequences – a blizzard of lies in political advertising and even more on social media, for example the flyer stating ‘Vote No to apartheid’,” Ms Daniel said. “Legislation for truth in political advertising ought to be a top government priority ahead of action on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. Our democracy is worse and more vulnerable without it.”

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is due to hand down its final report into the 2022 federal election next month.