,

The end of free speech

Australia’s Draconian New Censorship Bill

A new Bill was introduced into Parliament late last year that has the potential to end free speech in Australia permanently.

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023, delegates enormous powers to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to police digital platforms and directly intervene to prevent ‘harm’.
The bill defines “harm” as:
(a) hatred against a group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or physical or mental disability;
(b) disruption of PUBLIC ORDER or society in Australia;
(c) harm to the integrity of Australian democratic processes or of Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government institutions;
(d) harm to the health of Australians;
(e) harm to the Australian environment;
(f) economic or financial harm to Australians, the Australian economy or a sector of the Australian economy.
Take a moment to read that list through carefully and consider its dangerous implications.
Such a vague definition of “harm” would see ACMA become the sole arbiter of what is “true” and what isn’t.
It could also be used to SHUT DOWN most, if not ALL, avenues of legitimate dissent, including boycotts, demonstrations, refusal to pay a tax or fine, sit-ins and strikes.
ACMA would morph into the country’s State Censor.
It would have the power to REQUIRE any person to appear before its commissioners to answer questions. It would also have the power to impose infringement notices, remedial directions, injunctions and civil penalties, including fines of up to $AUD550,000 for individuals and $AUD2.75 million for corporations.
Criminal penalties, including imprisonment, would apply in cases of “extreme harm”.
Ironically, the bill EXEMPTS two powerful purveyors of misinformation and disinformation – the government and large mainstream media companies!
Because of course governments and the mainstream media NEVER EVER lie or twist the truth, right?!
At most risk of being targeted will be all the small operators of blogs, political websites and those publishing articles and opinion on aggregated platforms like Substack.
Those behind this bill won’t rest until they have obliterated every last scrap of anonymity, privacy, dissent and alternative viewpoints from the internet.
Any State holding the power to inflict such full spectrum dominance and control over its citizens, has NO right to call itself ‘free’, or a democracy.
Please contact your local Senator and ask them to BLOCK THIS BILL in the Senate at all costs.
/0 Comments/by
,

Julian Assange doco

TRUST FALL – New Julian Assange Documentary

New Farm Cinemas, was the scene of a massive turnout last night for the World Premiere of TRUST FALL: Julian Assange – the Documentary.
The night was such a huge success that the Cinema has decided to schedule additional screenings this Saturday and Sunday.
It is rare to see the theatrical release of such films and New Farm Cinemas on Brunswick Street are to be congratulated for their courage in screening such a film, given the McCarthyist era we now find ourselves in.
The film TRUST FALL provides a much-needed update on the long standing persecution of Julian Assange, and the war on journalism and free speech his persecution represents.
Of course the judicial pantomime taking place in the UK High Court has nothing whatsoever to do with justice. It is, in fact, little more than a farce.
How else would you describe a process where a man who has committed no crime, and is not a US citizen, is facing extradition under a foreign power’s Espionage Act and life in prison.
All for the ‘crime’ of exposing the truth and providing the world with some of the best and most courageous journalism of a generation.
In order to fight on behalf of Assange, we need to be clear about what and who we are fighting against.
And that’s a global billionaire class who have carried out a “coup d’etat in slow motion” of western democracies over the past two decades.
As a class, it has internally seized all of the levers of power and made us the most spied upon, monitored, propagandised, manipulated and surveilled population in human history.
In the process they have launched an all-out war on Truth and Truthtellers.
Both are viewed as ‘dangerous’ and routinely demonised using terms such as “misinformation,” “Russian interference” or “domestic terrorism.”
The goal of this ruling billionaire class is to redefine truth to mean whatever best serves their agenda.
In other words, a blatant lie can be true, if it serves an elite purpose.
When a country’s institutions become so corrupted as to be actively hostile to the truth in this way, democracy and its freedoms are lost.
If Julian is extradited and sentenced to rot in a US prison, it will mean anyone seeking to expose corruption or publish the truth, or hold governments to account, will have become criminals.
In fighting for Julian Assange, we are fighting for the primacy of Truth and the restoration of the Rule of Law and Democracy.
Please CONTACT YOUR local cinema and ask them to screen TRUST FALL in your area. Send them a link to www.thetrustfall.org for further info and to make a booking.
Donations to allow the independent filmmakers to mount a proper publicity campaign and have the film translated, can do so here:

Fundraiser Free the Truth

The TRUST FALL: Julian Assange – Documentary

/0 Comments/by