Christmas clearance of Albanese’s agenda dumps misinformation laws and gambling ad ban

The Albanese Government has dumped its controversial Misinformation and Disinformation Bill on the back of fierce opposition to the proposed laws, which had been slammed as an attempt by Labor to censor the internet.

It came as part of a series of backflips as part of pre-Christmas clean-up of the Labor Government’s agenda, with plans to put a ban on gambling ads to Parliament this week also ditched, as well as any prospect of a compromise with the Greens over housing initiatives.

The legislation would have required social media companies to have systems for dealing with false information and bad actors seeking to spread it on their platforms and given users more power to challenge content moderation decisions by tech companies.

But the proposed bill — which also threatened to fine digital platforms up to five per cent of their revenue if they breached the laws — sparked widespread fears the Government was seeking to censor the internet.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland conceded on Sunday the legislation was friendless in the Senate, with opposition from the Coalition, Greens and crossbench.

Shadow minister Michaelia Cash welcomed the abandonment of the proposed laws.

“This bill is not about misinformation and disinformation. This bill is about the Albanese government silencing the Australian people,” she said.

The Coalition has long opposed the legislation while the Greens turned on it late last week. Nor did Labor find backing from Senate crossbenchers.

“Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate,” Ms Rowland said in a statement.

Her shadow counterpart David Coleman said the bill never should have been put forward in the first place.

“Today, all supporters of free speech can celebrate that the Albanese Government’s misinformation bill is now in the bin, where it belongs,” he said.

Ms Rowland urged all parliamentarians to work on other proposals to keep Australians safe online and strengthen democratic institutions while safeguarding free speech.

What on earth does this Prime Minister stand for? What is the point of the Albanese Government.

“It is incumbent on democracies to grapple with these challenges in a way that puts the interests of citizens first,” she said.

The Government will now focus on making tougher offences for sharing non-consensual deep fake porn, enforcing truth in political advertising in elections and regulating artificial intelligence.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demanded the Government rule out any future iteration of the legislation.

He also labelled the backdown on the gambling ad ban a “cowardly and craven capitulation”.

“This is a government that is lurching from one disaster to the next and limping to the next election,” he said.

“What on earth does this Prime Minister stand for? What is the point of the Albanese Government.”

There are some 30 bills on the Senate’s agenda for the year’s final sitting.

Cabinet minister Murray Watt said it would be “a real test for Peter Dutton and for the Greens party about whether they’re prepared to help Labor build Australia’s future, or whether they’re going to continue the blocking and destructive negativity”.

Top of his Christmas list for passage were the two housing bills and another that boosts childcare educator wages.

But the Government has rejected a further compromise from the Greens on the legislation to establish a shared equity scheme like WA’s Keystart, and for incentives to build affordable rental properties.

However, it still hopes to legislate a new age limit on social media and overhaul electoral funding with support from the Coalition during this final sitting week for the year.

Treasury and Housing Australia have advised the Greens’ proposal to fund 25,000 housing projects previously rejected for Government funding was both unlawful and would cost $20 billion. Other changes to the build to rent scheme would have rendered it ineffective.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said the minor party was running a “contentious charade” and dabbling in “the crassest form of politics”.

“You get the distinct impression the Greens want Australians to continue to be in housing distress, so Adam Bandt can try to harvest those grievances into votes,” she said.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the longest-serving member of the Greens’ party room, insisted the party was trying to be pragmatic and get outcomes.

“I don’t want to vote things down. I want to get things done,” she said.