The resounding rejection by the Australian people of the Voice to Parliament is being met not with reflection or humility by the Federal Government, but with a promise to censor online political communication to ensure Australians don’t make the same mistake again.
In a telling moment, days after the referendum was held, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament that “people can be subject to misinformation which in some cases is just about politics but in some cases can be dangerous … you to make sure that elections can be held and democratic processes can be held in an appropriate way”.
This violates a basic principle of the rule of law, which is that the law must be knowable in order for it to be followed and applied impartially. And while the clause does provide a definition of harm, it is so broad as to provide little practical guidance. Beyond the Bill’s vagueness, a central claim made by proponents of misinformation laws is it will not be the Federal Government removing online speech, but it will be outsourced to foreign big tech platforms.
In other words, at the end of the day someone will need to determine if something written online is “misinformation” or not.Whether the day-to-day censorship is carried out by ACMA or by big tech platforms is a distinction without a difference.
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