Advance Australia—a centre-right grassroots organisation—will next campaign against the federal Labor government’s upcoming misinformation and disinformation bill.
Fresh from campaigning against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which aimed to alter the Australian Constitution, executive director Matthew Sheahan warned the Albanese government’s new bill would establish a “Ministry of Truth” in the country.
“Labor, the Greens, the Teals, the big corporates, the universities, and the mainstream media, were all hand-in-hand supporting the Yes campaign. They spent $100 million on a campaign trying to overcome the voices of mainstream Australians,” Mr. Sheahan told The Epoch Times in an email.
“They are now regrouping after their failure to push laws to police what you say on social media or during an election campaign,” he said.
“Advance will be calling on Australians who stood up against the political elites to defeat The Voice to now fight back against these Ministry of Truth laws. We see these laws as directly undermining Australia’s freedom, security, and prosperity.”
Advance Australia was founded in 2018 in opposition to the progressive activist group GetUp!
It is financed by some of Australia’s most prominent businessmen including Maurice Newman, Kennards Self Storage Managing Director Sam Kennard, former fund manager Simon Fenwick, and Australian Jewish Association President David Adler.
The group played a key role behind the “No” campaign against The Voice proposal, launching the Fair Australia group to spearhead the movement.
Led by Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and businessman Warren Mundine, Fair Australia was responsible for garnering a significant number of volunteers to campaign for the No vote in the lead-up to the referendum.
Misinformation Bill
Earlier this year, Advance published a statement urging its 44,000 members to sign a petition to be sent with an open letter to Labor, Green, and Teal MPs to stop any proposed legislation regarding misinformation laws.“Australians should have the right to hear all the arguments—the good ones and the bad ones—and decide for ourselves what’s true and what’s false,” the letter read.
“Politicians and unelected bureaucrats have no place interfering in that process. The so-called ‘fact-checkers’ already get it wrong all the time. How much worse would the situation be if a ‘Ministry of Truth’ were given an explicit mandate to control free speech?”
The petition has currently reached 32,038 signatures with a goal of 40,000.
It was primarily created in response to the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill drafted by a number of Labor MPs to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.
The bill would grant the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enhanced powers to regulate what it deems to be misinformation and disinformation online.
This includes the power to compel social media platforms to maintain extensive records of content posted online, enable the body to create and enforce an industry standard, as well as a code of practice in regard to misinformation and disinformation.
The bill defines misinformation as online content that is false, misleading or deceptive but disseminated without an intent to deceive. Disinformation on the other hand, is defined as misinformation that is disseminated with an intent to deceive.
Content produced or authorised by the federal or a state, territory, or local government is automatically exempted.
Labor has defended its decision to exempt governmental information from its legislation on the basis that the potential removal of government messaging of disaster alerts on digital platforms would pose a genuine threat to the Australian public.
The bill outlines significant penalties for digital platforms and individuals who fail to comply with the standards.
Corporations who fail to abide by the ACMA’s registered code of practice will be liable for a maximum of 10,000 penalty units ($2.75 million in 2023) or 2 percent of global turnover, whichever is greater. Corporations that fail to abide by the industry standard set by the ACMA will be liable for a maximum of 25,000 penalty units ($6.88 million in 2023) or 5 percent of global turnover, whichever is greater.
Shadow Minister for Communications David Coleman described the bill as “one of the most disturbing pieces of legislation ever put forward by an Australian government.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission has also voiced its concerns about the legislation, saying that while the risks associated with misinformation must be addressed, there must be a balance with protecting free speech.
Following the defeat of The Voice referendum on Oct. 14, proponents for the Yes vote blamed misinformation and disinformation from the No Campaign, particularly both Advance and Fair Australia, as a large reason for the referendum’s failure.
Further, a bipartisan push for laws imposing truth in political advertising may be on the cards, with a recent Australia Institute survey revealing that 92 percent of No voters and 83 percent of Yes voters backed a crackdown on misinformation.
