Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirms Misinformation and Disinformation Bill will be pulled

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has confirmed the government will pull a controversial Bill attempting to combat misinformation and disinformation after the Opposition and the Greens vowed to oppose it.

The Bill, which aimed to combat seriously harmful content on digital platforms will be scrapped in the Senate, with the government acknowledging there was “no pathway” for the Bill to succeed.

The proposed legislation was also opposed by a wide-ranging group of community groups, free speech organisations and religious groups over concerns it would harm free speech, with stakeholders questioning how the definition of truth would be enforced.

However, Ms Rowland accused the Coalition of playing politics.

“The Coalition committed to legislating safeguards when in government, but chose to place partisanship above any attempt to navigate the public interest,” she said.

Despite the setback, Ms Rowland said there needed to be “safeguards” to protect Australians from misinformation and disinformation, and urged MPs and senators to work with Labor on alternative concessions.

“Mis-and disinformation is an evolving threat and no single action is a perfect solution, but we must continue to improve safeguards to ensure digital platforms offer better protections for Australians,” she said.

She listed alternative proposals like legislation to strengthen offences targeting the sharing of non-consensual and sexually explicit deep fakes, a proposal to enforce truth in political advertising for elections, and stronger regulations around artificial intelligence.

Peter Dutton welcomed the axed Bill, which her termed a “scandalous attack on free speech”.

“No minister and no bureaucrat has a monopoly on truth. And yet, Labor’s legislation sought to make government and unelected bureaucrats the arbiters of truth,” he said.

“The Prime Minister today needs to rule out any future iteration of this legislation - before or after the next election.”

Greens’ communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said that while the intent behind the Bill was “well-meaning,” the proposed laws were “badly and poorly explained and implemented”.

She’s called for stronger regulation, which would target “dangerous algorithms” and heavy financial penalties for social media companies.

“We’ve got to get back to the real problem, and that is how these companies profit off these dangerous posts. If you want to stop the dangerous posts spreading like wildfire, hit them where it hurts, and that’s the dollar,” she told the ABC.

Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash said the Bill was an attempt to “censor free speech”.

“This Bill is not about misinformation and disinformation… This Bill is about the Albanese government giving bureaucrats the ability to say whether what you and I say is misinformation or disinformation,” she told Sky.