November 22, 2024
The Greens will oppose Labor's controversial misinformation and disinformation bill in a further blow after the Coalition and crossbenchers united to sink the changes.
The bill now appears set to fail in the Senate despite significant efforts to advance the legislation, which has been a central piece of Labor’s policy agenda.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the party would reject the bill due to concerns it would not "deal with the real issues" driving online misinformation.
“Sadly the government’s bill as it is just doesn’t stack up. It doesn’t deal with the real issues that drive this disinformation, that fuels this serious harm online," she said during a media conference on Friday.
She said the legislation failed to tackle the "dangerous algorithms that fuel and underpin these big tech giants’ platforms".
“If we want to seriously tackle the influence of big tech, the mass dissemination of mis and disinformation, if we want to tackle the prolific bots that push lies and harmful content, we have to tackle the business models of these big tech companies," she said.
“We call on the government today, withdraw this bill and go back to the drawing board.”
The Greens are also set to oppose the social media bill introduced into parliament on Thursday which Ms Hanson-Young blasted as a “sham”.
Tech giants are set to be threatened with $50 million fines as part of the ban for children under the age of 16 in a bid to combat the negative effects of social media on young people.
“The senate inquiry is a sham, three hours on Monday morning and that’s it, after the bill was only introduced yesterday,” Ms Hanson-Young said.
“It’s a sham of an inquiry and a sham of a bill."
Opposition from within Parliament has grown stronger in recent weeks, with both the Coalition and crossbench Senators expressing alarm about its impact on free speech.
It has been labelled “anti-free speech”, “extreme” and “state-sanctioned censorship” by its opponents.
Under the proposed laws, social media companies would be required to identify content that is “reasonably verifiable as false” and remove or penalise it accordingly.
The bill also allows for penalties to be imposed for content deemed to cause “serious harm” through misinformation or disinformation.
The legislation has drawn criticism for its vague definitions and its potential to stifle free speech.
Labor has spent more than a year on the legislation since Communications Minister Michelle Rowland released an exposure draft bill for public consultation in June 2023.
The bill’s fate now rests in the hands of the Senate.
While the government has pushed hard to secure support, the legislation has continued to face condemnation for being anti-free speech.
In particular, the crossbench—where key votes will likely decide the bill’s future—has voiced strong opposition.
Senators David Pocock, Fatima Payman, Gerard Rennick, Lidia Thorpe, Tammy Tyrrell, and David Van have all announced their intention to oppose the bill as it stands.
Senators Pauline Hanson, Jacqui Lambie, Ralph Babet and Malcolm Roberts have also expressed opposition to the bill.
The Coalition has long rejected the proposed legislation and labelled it “one of the worst pieces of legislation ever put forward by an Australian government”.
As Parliament prepares to break for the summer recess, the government now does not have the support it needs to pass the bill.
Liberal Senator James Paterson called on the government to have the “courage of their convictions” to submit the bill to the Senate despite its unpopularity.
“I am worried that they will do the cowardly thing and cut and run now that looks like they don't have the support for this bill,” Mr Paterson told Sky News on Wednesday.
“It's not surprising that they don't have support for this bill because there’s not a stakeholder in the country … who thinks this bill is a good idea.”
