Government's Gag Law Sparks Outrage

Crikey! The government just rammed their new "Misinformation Disinformation" Bill through the House of Reps this week, despite a fair whack of folks being crook about it. Even the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL)  are calling it an "Orwellian" threat to our right to have a good yarn online.

This bill basically gives the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) a whole heap of new power to be the online hall monitor. The ACL states this is a recipe for censorship, with the government getting to decide what's the "truth" and shutting down anyone who disagrees.

On top of that, if any social media platforms don't zap "misinformation" fast enough, they could be whacked with massive fines. Michelle Pearse, the boss of the ACL, believes this gives ACMA way too much power to pick and choose what's "fair dinkum" and what's "harmful," especially on hot-button topics.

She's particularly worried about the impact on Christians and folks who don't see eye-to-eye with some more extreme woke ideas. Pearse even pointed to the E-Commissioner having a go at posts critical of "radical gender ideology" as an example.

Apparently, a bunch of pollies in the House tried to put the brakes on this, but Labor seems dead set on pushing it through. To top it all off, the ACL reckons the government's own analysis of the bill suggests it might even stop people from sharing stuff that could challenge the rights of women and LGBTQI+ folks. This has folks worried about silencing pro-life views. With public trust in government waning due to corruption and excessive spending, there are fears that this legislation could be used to silence legitimate criticism and stifle public debate, particularly on platforms known for their open discourse like X.

This whole thing is a massive threat to how our democracy works – you have be able to have a fair dinkum debate, right? We should be outraged about the government only giving folks a measly eleven days to have their say before steamrolling this bill through.

The ACL wants the government to ditch this whole thing and focus on protecting our right to have a good yarn online, the way a free democracy should, and we stand with them!

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Image Title: We Shall Not Be Silenced, Source: Midjourney’s image generation model.