One of Australia’s most prominent doctors has urged Australians to actively oppose the Albanese government’s proposed misinformation laws, saying they would have been potentially harmful during the Covid pandemic.
Dr Nick Coatsworth, who was the country’s deputy chief medical officer during the pandemic, feared the Tackling Disinformation and Misinformation Bill would be used as a “weapon” to shut down debate.
He said the legislation was partly aimed at stopping the spread of “misinformation” that was causing “harm to public health in Australia, including the effectiveness of preventative health measures”.
However, he said this was “surprising” after the Covid pandemic because the medical fraternity and the general public became “very aware” that the “facts” were changing as the virus became better understood.
This means that the new laws could label “legitimate concerns” about public health policy as “misinformation” according to the government’s “current scientific orthodoxy.”
“Misinformation causes harm,” said Dr Coatsworth. This bill should be rejected in its entirety.
‘Using disinformation as a term to silence debate causes even greater harm.
Dr Nick Coatsworth has urged Australians to oppose the Albanese government’s proposed laws to combat misinformation.
“This bill does the latter.”
Dr Coatsworth said he “shares the Government’s deep concern about the damage social media causes to community trust and cohesion”.
“But disinformation is such a widely used accusation these days that I can’t see how the law could work in practice,” he said.
Dr Coatsworth said that while some things online are “verifiably false”, the “only solution is to equip the community from a young age to recognise what[the falsehoods]are and understand how social media works to manipulate debate”.
“Let’s teach our children to think critically and to question and debate, not to dismiss or reject the opinions or ideas of others with random accusations of misinformation,” she explained.
‘I strongly encourage Australians to do something they may never have done before and submit it to the Senate inquiry.
“Even if it is a brief paragraph, it expresses deep concern about what this bill represents.”
Dr Coatsworth previously admitted that Australian governments and health officials had lost the public’s trust and goodwill over their handling of Covid.
In February, he told Sydney radio station 2GB that draconian measures to contain the virus had gone on for too long and had caused people to become disengaged and resentful.
In a 10-page submission to a special inquiry into Australia’s Covid response in February, Dr Coatsworth admitted that imposing vaccine mandates was a mistake.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland insists new laws will not restrict freedom of expression
“We weren’t wrong to promote vaccines, but I do think we were wrong with mandates,” he said.
“I think you could say that hindsight is perfect, but hindsight allows us to foresee. And if we have a pandemic again, we should think carefully about whether mandatory vaccinations are justified.”
Under the new laws, the beefed-up watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), will be able to order social media companies to crack down on repeated misinformation and disinformation on their platforms.
If companies fail to do so, they face a range of huge penalties and fines, which could include the loss of five per cent of their global revenue.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland denied the laws would restrict freedom of expression.
“We’ve been very clear as a government that we’ve taken strong advice on this and consulted widely to make sure it aligns precisely with what we have under international law to not limit freedom of expression,” he told the ABC earlier this month.
Shadow communications minister David Coleman has accused the government of trying to rush the laws through parliament after an earlier version of them was withdrawn last year following significant public opposition.
“How are people supposed to respond to this complicated law in just one week?” Coleman told The Daily Telegraph.
‘The Labour Party wants to force this law through and is trying to stop the massive backlash we saw last time.’