Labor caught in a bind as misinformation gets political
The government insists it's committed to passing controversial legislation to curb misinformation, despite a backlash against its plan last year. But crossbenchers say they haven't heard anything about it for months.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has a busy in-tray, with anti-siphoning laws for free-to-air television, gambling reform and taking on tech giant Meta under the federal government’s media bargaining code. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is also about to embark on a controversial attempt to create a new civil penalty for doxxing – the publication of a person’s private information without their consent – a potential Pandora’s box for regulating the online space.
With all of this, the government seems to have quietly put its misinformation bill on the backburner. Labor insists it is aiming to introduce a revised bill to parliament this year after its original legislation was widely panned by legal experts, religious groups, media organisations and human rights organisations. Criticisms ranged from vague definitions of “misinformation” and “harm”, free speech concerns, fears religious speech would be curtailed, to the government exempting its own content.
But Capital Brief has spoken to several crossbench MPs who say discussions on changes to the bill have effectively ceased since October.
Independent senator for the ACT David Pocock, whose vote will likely be critical for the government to pass its misinformation legislation, said he had not heard from the government about the issue since October last year.
