Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

‘If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.’
― George Washington

Most of us know there is a draft bill before the Parliament with a verbose title: Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill. Its name alone should tell us something smells, and it’s not just the cheese.

This is a short article to talk about both the issues with the bill, but also where it is leading, which is much worse.

{Article previously published in July 2023, updated 26/Sep/2024}

Issues

Many issues have been raised about this bill, including, but not limited to:

• Who defines what is Misinformation and Disinformation, i.e., who is the arbiter of ‘truth’?
• Interestingly so-called ‘hate speech’ is protected by the US 2^nd amendment (as long as it does not incite violence) — again, who defines hate?
• Having an alternate view that you find ‘hurts your feelings’ is not hate or misinformation.
• Tolerance is not acceptance, we may find your view offensive but will tolerate it, but that does not mean we will affirm, celebrate, or endorse your view. We must be free to speak what we believe.
• Australia is a founding member of the United Nations and an original signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Articles 18 and 19 deal with freedom of expression, association, and religion. This bill is in violation of these fundamental rights.
• The freedom to preach the Gospel and scripture, which calls for repentance from sin.

A personal history

Rather than just talk more about the bill, I will relate the real-life experiences of my Dad, who lived through Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

Book burning in Berlin, 10 May 1933

Both my mother-in-law and Dad both lived through Nazi (socialist) Germany under Hitler’s Nazi regime.

For context, Dad turned 18 in 1932, and the Nazi enabling act (formally: Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich) was passed in 1933, ostensibly to protect the people. He did not talk about it a lot, but the suppression of dissent, books, and freedom in general were huge issues for Dad.

On the occasions we did discuss it, when I was older, he showed me how intrinsically important freedom is to our society. Yet, we seem to have forgotten our history.

It is also worth noting that property takeover was a big part of the Nazi agenda. Jews and others lost their homes and businesses. We have just seen this happen recently with Calvary Hospital in Canberra. Dad said people were too scared to speak up and basically buried their heads in the sand as long as they were ok.

One of the justifications for book burning (which started in 1933, long before the war) was the idea of preventing subversion of the Nazi ideals; in other words, Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation! To me, this is the key reason this bill must be stopped.

The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, communist, socialist, anarchist, liberal, pacifist, and sexologist authors, among others. This included porn and genuinely bad things, which was part of the justification; but it also included works by critical ‘bourgeois’ writers like the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler; and ‘corrupting foreign influences,’ among them American author Ernest Hemingway.

Conclusion

The big question is, how did the German people allow this all to happen?

Dad told me that people wanted ‘safety’ and ‘security’ at any cost, which ended up being death for many. Hitler promised (and only partly delivered) jobs, hospitals, Volkswagen cars, and a promise of Lebensraum or living room, hence the invasion of neighbouring nations, leading to World War II.

Most people gave up their freedoms blindly, with no understanding of the consequences.  It was an incremental process that promised a good and safe life but ended up with death camps and the holocaust.

Some recent laws here in Australia, like Dan Andrews’ omnibus bill and the Calvary Hospital takeover, are Hilter-esque! It is akin to the Nazi Enabling Act. The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill is of this ilk as well.

We must vigorously oppose the dilution of our freedoms.

This is a big call, you might say.

Most have no idea what really happened when the national socialists (Nazis) got power. This is the same strategy as the Voice, Antifa, Rainbow, and Left agendas being played out today. These sorts of laws enable a totalitarian regime to form.

Do not say that this is not the same! Hitler started softly, then took absolute power incrementally over time; then all dissent and freedom were shut down. This is happening now in many nations. E.g. The UK has gaoled more than 3,300 people for so-called hate speech on social media. Such governmental overreach is intolerable; yet this is exactly what our leftist government are proposing.

‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’
― George Orwell

Finally, I leave you with a video (9:25) of Rowan Atkinson speaking on the subject of free expression — please take 10 minutes to view this video.

Rowan makes the point that the answer to bad speech is MORE speech, not less. We must have the freedom to speak our minds and convictions.

Please take action, as your voice makes a difference! Please write to your state senators opposing the bill. Also please make the effort and take some time to talk with your local federal member.

Be like August Landmesser (24 May 1910 – 17 October 1944) is understood to be the man appearing in a 1936 photograph conspicuously refusing to perform the Nazi salute (source: Wikimedia, Creative Commons License). We must stand for freedom and life.

___

Photo by Anete Lusina.