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The government’s website states:

Misinformation and disinformation pose a threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy.

So much has been said and written about this, which is great, but all this common sense does not appear to have reached the majority of our government representatives, with this bill passing the House of Representatives 78 to 57.

No threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians

First of all, let’s define these two words: misinformation and disinformation. The Oxford Dictionary renders misinformation as wrong information, or the fact that people are misinformed, and disinformation as false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organisation to a rival power or the media.

These terms only became part of our everyday language when the COVID era hit. I find that telling. Before COVID, misinformation and disinformation did not exist! What happened?

I think the key point here is in the Oxford definition of disinformation, namely:

especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.

How ironic that our Labour Government should be at pains to pass a bill to ban propaganda issued by a government, and their government agency will decide what is and isn’t propaganda!

I argue that the only threat to our safety and wellbeing is our government for putting up this bill. Take misinformation. If a citizen is misinformed, it is their responsibility to rectify that situation, not the government’s. Imagine if it was the government’s responsibility, then they would have to craft the narrative and ensure that all of us understand their narrative correctly, and not misinterpret it. All that they could ever expect to be able to do, is to ‘control the narrative’. How could they ever hope to police everyone’s understanding?

Consider disinformation. False information which is intended to mislead. So, there are two aspects here, the creation of lies, untruth and the creation of such disinformation with intent to mislead people.

Has our government got a good record in this regard? No. Let’s go no further than to quote the phrase ‘safe and effective’. When this mantra was parroted, they had no evidence to support such a claim, and as the years have unfolded, it has been shown to be a lie, an untruth, and it was parroted so many times with the intent to mislead people for control and financial gain.

I rest my case; our government is the only threat to our safety and wellbeing.

How, then, should we respond if this bill becomes law?

I admire all those in and out of parliament who spoke up against this bill, but I am not surprised that their advocacy did not prevail. The forces behind the bill are too strong. I go further: they are not merely human forces, they are forces out of the unseen, diabolical world that we are wrestling with. (Ephesians 6: 10-20)

The bill, and any subsequent legislation impacting what we can and cannot say or published is certainly important, but I believe that more important are the forces that are working to cause us to self-censor our speech, our writing and our thoughts.

The battle is for our minds (Philippians 4: 7). As long as we stay anchored to the truth, able to recognise the truth and to speak and write the truth, we will be safe, and we will maintain our wellbeing.

If we find ourselves beginning to have sympathy with and understanding for some aspects of the new world order. Then, we have probably begun to cross over to the dark side where we can no longer trust ourselves, our own judgment, and we will be reaching out for those in authority to tell us the truth.

I am not fearful of this bill passing, but disappointed. If this bill results in legislation, that will bring the day closer when we will simply have to take a stand and, peacefully and respectfully, not submit to a bad law, whatever the cost.

A new challenge might then emerge: namely, how will we be able to find the truth if it is being removed from the narrative, to protect us from harm? That will be hard, but I suspect that legislation will not be able to police everything. I think there is certainly a growing tide of rebellion against these forces of censorship. We need only look at the fallout from the recent American election to see that increasing numbers are taking a stand in this regard.

A great place to close would be with the Apostle Paul:

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5)

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