The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) Managing Director Michelle Pearse has confirmed that her organisation will be involved in drafting amendments to an Albanese government bill that she has previously described as “especially dangerous for Christians who want to express an alternate view to woke culture and gender and sexuality as well as for those who want to speak out against abortion.”
The ACL says as it stands, the proposed Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Bill would see the government define what truth is and give power to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and online platforms such as Meta and YouTube to enforce it, prompting the Lobby to warn: “The bill threatens the very essence of our democratic rights. It grants the government the power to define truth and empowers regulatory bodies to enforce it, while exempting the government and mainstream media from the same rules. We must act now to protect freedom of speech and oppose the enforcement of ideological conformity in Australia.”
In an extensive interview, Ms. Pearse told Vision Radio that she had met Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and been given assurances the bill was going to be amended, explaining that: “If there does have to be a bill, we would obviously want it to be significantly amended. I asked the Minister if we could have input into what these amendments could be, and she agreed. So our team will be working with the Department of Communications to ensure that the amendments are those that will make it able for Christians to continue to post what they want to post online without it being restricted.”
The ACL boss reiterated her preference for no such laws at all: “The issue with this bill is that it’s so broad. The definition of misinformation is anything that is reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm. And it mentions things like health which could be about abortion, but also the LGBTQ community, which could be about questioning same sex or gender matters online. It puts the power in the hands of the digital platforms themselves to censor it. And if they don’t, then they get threatened with serious fines. So to avoid the risk of being fined, they’re likely to over-censor.”
“It is still very concerning that it will threaten the ability of Christians to be able to say what they want online. We know that the things that we’re currently saying in terms of questioning gender issues, putting things online about abortion — this could be construed as harmful, even though we say these things out of compassion and not because we hate, but because we really care for society and we care for those that are impacted by it.”
“This really is a serious threat to our ability to post these things out of the compassion of our hearts online, to see these things continuously censored. They already are to an extent. We’re already seeing the inability to post online with Facebook Meta taking posts off. So this would just make matters even worse. It puts the power in the hands of ACMA who are the ones that will develop this code that the digital platforms will be responsible to enforce. That’s why this is a really bad idea.”
Ms. Pearse is resigned to the proposed laws going ahead in some form: “The Minister says that the bill’s intent is to limit foreign interference in things that do threaten our democracy. From our research and analysis, these sorts of security measures are already covered in other pieces of legislation. So that’s why we’re saying this bill isn’t even necessary. But if they really do want to go ahead with it, then we have to ensure that Christians are able to continue to post and the amendments are in place to protect Christians when it comes to posting about things that are controversial, things that our culture is moving away from so that we can continue to have a voice through this very powerful means of social media.”
She told Vision Radio: “The UK has a similar bill with a similar purpose of limiting the foreign interference and and especially limiting the ability to cite hate online or encourage hatred. It’s actually a much better bill in the UK and we’re encouraging Minister Rowland to look at this bill and do something similar in Australia and we think that will achieve what we want in Australia, what the Department wants without affecting the ability of Christians to post online.”
Britain’s Online Safety Bill was passed this week and will soon become law. Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said the bill was a “game-changing” piece of legislation that would “make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.”
