‘Smokescreen’ for Misinformation Bill: Ex-PM Warns Against Taking Down Video of Bishop Stabbing

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott takes questions after addressing the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 28, 2019. AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is concerned that current moves by Australian authorities to target social media platform X could be an excuse to push through the impending “Misinformation Bill.”

In a wide-ranging podcast with the Institute of Public Affairs, Mr. Abbott discussed multiple topics including the online world, Islamist violence, and smartphones in schools.

X Corporation is currently locked in a court battle with Australian authorities regarding a takedown order to remove all footage showing the stabbing attack on an Assyrian Christian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney’s west.

Mr. Abbott said he was worried about double standards from those keen to remove the videos.

“I mean there’s any amount of violence that you can see online. Why is this particular bit of violence so problematic,” the former prime minister asked.

Mr. Abbott served as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015.

“It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that the people behind this drive to get rid of the footage of the assault on bishop Emmanuel are motivated by some kind of anxiety about Islamophobia,” he said.

However, Mr. Abbott did clarify that the online world was a “wild wild west” that needed to be tamed.

“But encouraging politically correct censorship by Big Tech, of which we already have a lot ... which is what the government’s misinformation and disinformation  legislation would do.

“This whole Bishop Emmanuel footage thing seems to be a smokescreen for what is really an attempt to get their misinformation and disinformation bill back before the Parliament,” he added.

“I just think that’s going to make a bad situation worse.”

Double Standards For Different Faiths?

The former prime minister said the stabbing video had nothing to do with “misinformation,” instead it is what happened.

“It is true. It is absolutely what happened. It’s the unvarnished horrible truth. An individual tried to kill a bishop, because according to this individual, the bishop had insulted the prophet,” Mr. Abbott said.

“Well we need to know, we do need to know that there are people out there who want to kill in the name of their conception of God, in the name of religion.

Mr. Abbott, who is Catholic, said there appeared to be double standards applied to different faiths.

“No-one refuses to mention Catholicism when they are talking about pedophile priests, why are we now squeamish about mentioning Islam when we talking about terrorist attacks or terrorist attempts,” Mr. Abbott said.

Mr. Abbott continued saying there should not be double standards, and we have to call things for what they are.

“As much as we do not want to tar a whole community with the crimes of a few, the fact is if someone commits a terrorist offence crying, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ it’s religiously motivated Islamist violence and we have to call it for it what it is.”

Mr. Abbott also said more responsible voices in the Muslim community need to speak out and say it is wrong to kill in the name of God.

“And again, this is where I really think we need to hear more responsible voices in the Muslim community saying that it is simply wrong to kill in the name of God and any suggestion that Islam suggests killing in the name of God is not true Islam and it needs to be absolutely exposed,” Mr. Abbott said.

Less Smartphone Access for Our Kids

However, despite Mr. Abbott’s concerns about bureaucratic censorship, he did acknowledge problems with the online world.

“Why should ‘Fred the fireman’ from Forrestville be able to post highly defamatory, grotesque pornographic material and get away with it,” Mr. Abbott said.

He also said schools should ban all smartphone devices connected to the internet, and that parents needs to be responsible for children, not the government.

“I am sure there are ways of restricting their access to things that are genuinely educational by using some sort of an educational intranet or something like that. So schools should ban connected devices,” Mr. Abbott said.

“I really don’t see why young kids need mobile phones. And if they have to have a mobile phone, let it be one that is simply a phone, not something that is connected to all these apps that can you use.

“Frankly, why do kids have to be on social media at least before they are 16. We really have to give kids the chance to grow up in a family and in a neighborhood before they are exposed to this global jungle, this online wild west, we really do.”

Minister Says This is Not Censorship

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has an entirely different perspective on Elon Musk’s struggles with the eSafety commissioner.

The minister argued on April 29 that protecting the community was not censorship.

“This Elon Musk position on censorship on X is absolutely driving me crazy. You know, you cannot show all sorts of things, like child pornography, like people being murdered in the mainstream media,” Ms. Plibersek said on a video on X.

“What Elon Musk is saying is that he needs to be able to show graphic violent content on the platform or somehow people’s human rights are being infringed.

The minister said no-one is saying the stabbing should not be reported, noting that would be censorship, but she argued preventing the video from being shown was against common decency.