Federal Member for Groom Garth Hamilton has launched an attack on the proposed Government’s proposed legislation aimed at giving the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) a graduated set of new powers to combat misinformation and disinformation across the sector.
Mr Hamilton believes the proposed laws are linked to the failure of the voice referendum.
“Anthony Albanese would have you think the Voice to Parliament failed because Australians were convinced by ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’,” Mr Hamilton said.
“He’s taking the Voice failure as an opportunity to push his dystopian misinformation bill.
“The bill broadly defines misinformation as material that is ‘false, misleading or deceptive.
“But who gets to decide what is false, misleading or deceptive? Not you – the Government,” Mr Hamilton said.
“Under the bill’s exemptions, any information put forward by the Government and big tech platforms cannot be labelled as misinformation or disinformation.
“But anyone found disagreeing with the Albanese Government or another government minister can have their posts taken down by tech platforms for ‘misinformation’.
“No Government or tech platform should have the power to decide the truth.” Mr Hamilton has urged his constituents in the Groom electorate to sign a petition against the laws by going to garthhamilton.com.au/freespeech/
This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 30 November 2023.
