Labor using explanatory document to hide true powers of Misinformation Bill

The opinions and commentary of individuals could be deemed misinformation under Labor’s proposed legislation changes, according to James McComish of Victorian Bar.

Appearing in front of the third and final hearing into the proposed Misinformation Bill, Mr McComish, a Melbourne based Barrister, expressed his frustration at the interpretations  provided in the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum. 

“This most peculiar insertion in the Explanatory Memorandum, which is an extraordinary document, is that opinions, claims, commentary, and invective can constitute misinformation is one of the most disturbing impacts of this Bill,” he said.

“What astonished us was that when the Explanatory Memorandum came out, our point, which was that there was a grave danger to freedom of expression, had been flipped on its head, explicitly in the Explanatory Memorandum to encompass the very thing that we  feared.

“That namely that views, opinions, claims, and invective … All of the things that one sees on the internet that are not factual claims which are capable of verification, according to the government’s Explanatory Memorandum, are encompassed in the Bill.”

It came after constitutional lawyer, Professor Anne Twomey, AO, pointed out the disconnect between the proposed legislation and the explanatory memorandum.

“The problem for me is that when I read the bill, I thought, it is ok because it is referring to things that are verifiably false and it is only dealing with if you are mucking up the electoral  process and not the political content,” Twomey said.

“In the explanatory memorandum, I am seeing something completely different and that confusion for me is where potentially the constitutional problem comes in.

“If what is said in the explanatory memorandum is actually right then this is getting into the actual political issues that lead to the voting.

NSW Nationals Senator, Ross Cadell, shared his fears over the Bill which could result in broad censorship of everyday Australians.

“This is an incredibly poorly designed piece of legislation,” Cadell said. “The disconnect between the Explanatory Memorandum and the legislation is startling.

“Here we have another attempt from Labor to push through legislation to look after its own at the expense of the Australian people.

“Make no mistake… If this legislation is passed, the people of Australia will be gaffed from having an opinion contrary to that of the Labor government.