MARVEL yet again at a Liberal Party that strips away your liberty more than Russia or China ever will. The Morrison government – which slept through the worst assault on law and order since the Rum Rebellion – has decided to establish a Misinformation and Disinformation Action Group that will “collaborate” with private companies to vet what you read or publish. While Communications Minister Paul Fletcher cited no examples of “harmful or misleading content” to be outlawed, Nine’s Zoe Samios mentions two topics that could be subjected to what he describes – Xi-style – as “news quality measures.” The minister’s announcement follows a report by ACMA that supposedly found 82 per cent of Australians had “experienced misinformation about covid-19 in the past 18 months and as the world’s most powerful tech companies try to combat the deluge of misinformation and disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.”
The same companies that banned the Hunter Biden/Big Guy scandal during a Presidential election and which ban users identifying men and women by their sex – amongst too many other crimes to enumerate here – are ‘trying to’ combat a ‘deluge’ of misinformation, are they? The governments of Australia which lied about the real threat of coronavirus, lied about the necessity of lockdowns, lied about the efficacy of masks, lied about causes of death and hospitalisation, lied about ‘vaccine’ side effects, lied about transmissibility in the ‘unvaccinated’, lied about their own criminal negligence in nursing ‘homes’, lied about the risk to children – amongst too many other black lies to list – they’re going to decide what misinformation is, are they?
As for Ukraine, not since World War One has media coverage of a conflict been so piously curated. So preposterously exaggerated are claims of Russian ineptitude and Ukrainian invincibility that Mr Zelenskyy and his government are being incited to turn their country into a neo-con Somme rather than come to sensible terms or disappoint Lindsey Graham. Virtually all of the truly marquee tales of Ukrainian doughtiness – handily packaged for Western front pages every 24 hours – have been either false or embellished. Shutting down Russia’s equally questionable version of events has done nothing but encourage Ukrainian officials to lie under an iron dome of impunity. Worse, the chasm between Ukraine’s media victory and its ever-degrading military campaign is being filled with dead bodies. The state/media/Big Tech triumvirate’s censorship of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and the Laptop From Hell proves that only an open market for news and views can protect what remains of civilisation. It is a strange truth of contemporary political discourse that the more Western leaders denounce the monsters of Eurasian authoritarianism, the more they imitate them.
The Morrison government – which slept through the worst assault on law and order since the Rum Rebellion
Scummo & Co didn’t sleep through the above – he drove it, aided & abetted by the various state governments.
We’re getting a bit of a breather now – not because of the coming elections (the Uniparty will win them) nor the protests around the country, but just to get people to leave their guards down – to think things are going back to normal.
None of the various states of emergency have been lifted – and they won’t be, and all the key players are still in their positions of power. None of the wrongs have been righted. Dangerous “vaccines” which do not work are still mandated.
We are not going to be able to vote our way out of this – it will take massive action from overseas “players”, followed by remedial action here.
(I think we should refer to the Labour Party as Lib-Lite & not the other way round.)
Yes, Tony – agreed. I think this is very true.
Great article C.L. and great comment Tony.
Excellent analysis and good comments. We live in scary times when big gov colludes with big business to censor information, whilst simultaneously independent media is being deplatformed, so that the masses will be kept in blissful ignorance.
New South Australian government have new permanent pandemic legislation as first order of business.
In addition, and as much as I loathe Gareth Ward, i think Perrottet is going down the wrong rabbit hole in saying he will vote to expel that guy from parliament before he has his day in court. We have seen so many contentious allegations lately, simply because of the lack of integrity enabled by the control of narrative and shutting down of inconvenient speech.
Appalling. Liberals have become like the fetid anus of Canberra burbling out fresh ‘safe and effective’ fragrance each day.
Access to offshore news and information is going to become increasingly critical for this prison island.
This revolutionary regime, now that the two year revolution is mostly over is cementing in its new order via permanent powers and a mass censorship apparatus, preparing to decapitate any inevitable counter revolution.
Secular third parties and political movements and protests can’t stop this either, that is dawning on a lot of people.
I was more free this time last year than now.
It’s unbelievable that many people think this is over.
Refreshingly though a lot of covid Karen’s are suffering at their own hand as they get tested then have to isolate for weeks and we sit there listening in astonishment that they are doing all that to themselves for no reason.
Lockstep to socialism still in operation:
* UK – “Online Safety Bill” … save da children from misinformation … ordinary people can be punished for unapproved opinions, but government pet media companies will be fine.
* Canada – “Bill C-11” … online opinions get regulated by central planning authority.
Obviously they have already demonstrated they don’t need any real laws when they can simply send police around shouting “emergency power! emergency power!” but extra laws are always going to come in handy for the next round of over reach.
‘fake news’ remains beyond scrutiny.
Oh goody, an actual Ministry of Truth to enhance the propaganda, fake news and lies, and to suppress truth, scientific data and reality.
Guys, the book was meant to be a warning, not a training manual.
Well might Ronald Reagan have said that “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘government and Big Tech know what’s best, trust us.'”
Excellent article, C.L.
I think we’re seeing what the gummint advertising in the media has actually paid for – the taking down of the ALP.
Poppycock! 100% of Australians have “experienced misinformation about covid-19 in the past 18 months.
Yes, it’s a scandal that no one has pointed out that the assertion that 95% vaccination rate equals herd immunity was a load of bollocks. In WA they persisted with this myth long after it was obviously a load of.