The Misinformation Bill before the Australian Senate, introduced by Labor with the Greens’ support, threatens free speech. Masked as a remedy for falsehoods, it quietly lays the foundation for government control over online discourse.
On the surface, the bill claims to tackle misinformation on social media, citing the harm it causes. Yet, in its rush to regulate truth, the political left risks undermining the freedoms that define democracy. Beneath its protective facade, the bill threatens legitimate discourse.
What is harmful?
The bill labels certain forms of misinformation as ‘reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm,’ including vilification, threats to public health, economic disruption, and electoral interference. Anything categorised as ‘harmful’ is subject to censorship, granting the unelected Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) the power to determine truth and falsehood – setting the stage for a society where only government-sanctioned narratives can endure.
This legislation isn’t a hallmark of a free society; it’s a confession that we no longer know how to navigate the dangers of free speech – the chaos, discomfort, and uncertainty. Instead of embracing the messiness of democracy, it seeks to tame it, to domesticate the very thing that makes democratic participation possible.
Safety v censorship
By granting ACMA the power to act as the arbiter of truth on social media, the bill reframes censorship as protection. It champions control while cloaking it in the language of safety.
The internet, once a symbol of unfettered exchange and democratic hope, now threatens to be reduced to a space quietly governed by the state. In the 1990s, the political left hailed the internet as a tool for free speech, a realm beyond government control, where ideas could be challenged. Yet this bill would see free speech fade, yielding to the suffocating grip of government-defined truth.
Australia’s history is already etched with the marks of government misinformation – wars founded on lies, the White Australia policy, the forced removal of Aboriginal children during the Stolen Generations, and the prolonged denial of tobacco’s lethal embrace.
These are not distant wounds; they echo still in the present. Yet this bill – though it claims to fight falsehoods – remains curiously mute on the greater danger: the unchecked ability of governments to manipulate truth and call it reality.
History teaches us that governments embracing censorship are rarely on the right side of it. Inconvenient truths are often dismissed as misinformation by those in power. The right to speak freely is the delicate foundation of democracy, and once it’s undermined, authority expands unchecked. To silence one voice is to weaken all voices, for when the power to define truth is seized, the freedom to challenge it slips away.
A true democracy thrives on chaos, on the cacophony of competing voices – some awkward, uncomfortable, and even misinformed and offensive. It’s in this noisy fray that freedom and equality take shape, not in the quiet of consensus, but in the vibrant clash of ideas. A democracy that silences voices, no matter how discordant, is a democracy in decline.
Wake-up call
The Senate’s rejection of this bill could serve as a wake-up call for the political left, offering an opportunity to reconnect with its left-libertarian roots. If this chance is missed, the rise of right-wing governments – who often champion free speech but use it to justify divisive narratives – could syphon away a voter base that values freedom of expression more than they fear the shadow of misinformation.
I believe the Labor government’s intentions behind this legislation are sincere. Misinformation is a perennial problem in democracy – and it can weaken the democratic fabric. Yet, sincerity is a fragile shield against the unforeseen consequences this bill may set in motion.
What the government fails to grasp is the far greater danger it invites by allowing an unelected body to define truth. The possibility of such power being misused, of truth being shaped to suit the whims of those in control, poses a greater threat to democracy than any misinformation could. For falsehoods – however persistent – can always be contested, corrected, and reformed through open debate. But who will contest the authority of those who claim to hold the final word on what is true? And once that authority is established, will it ever be relinquished?
Government control over the narrative of misinformation is a Trojan horse – disguised as a safeguard, yet concealing within it the quiet seeds of concentrated power.
If this bill passes, censorship will unfold gradually, like the slow erosion of a once vibrant shoreline. In surrendering this space to the government, we lose more than the freedom to speak – we lose the ability to engage in the critical debate over what is true. To silence that dialogue is to undermine the very foundation of a free society. Without it, we are left with only the illusion of truth and the silhouette of democracy.
If the Senate is truly committed to protecting free speech, it must reject this bill.
♦ Chaiy Donati is a former President of Queensland Young Labor and previously served as the National Political Organiser for the Transport Workers Union. He is currently the President of the Mullumbimby Brunswick Valley branch of the ALP.
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