Free Speech Under Attack

Governments must protect free speech

EXCERPTS from the BRN Submission - July 2023 re: Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023

TRIGGER WARNING - This document contains ideas and commentary that some people will find offensive. It is quite possible that some readers will experience their feelings being hurt. The truth often hurts.

Any politician supporting this legislation should be ashamed and embarrassed ..... and probably should step down because they are most certainly not serving the interests of the people or the nation. This Bill is the line which must not be crossed.

The underlying assumption in this Bill is that Big Brother knows best. Who is "Big Brother?" George Orwell and most well educated people would say it is an authoritarian government controlling & exploiting the people and resources of a nation or region of the world. In reality it's a bit more complicated.

Authoritarian governments are actually tools of an elite ruling class which seeks to control as much of the world as possible. That class does not care if a nation's government is of the left or of the right. The key is that the government is far enough over on one side or another to control a country's resources for the benefit of the rulers.

Big Brother’s determination and propagation of the “truth” requires several elements be put in place. The Albanese government's legislation seeks to do just that.

First, it aims to suppress citizens expressing their "unapproved", unfiltered, "unacceptable" views, ideas, and beliefs on social media and various digital platforms. Unapproved views are simply views that diverge from a Big Brother approved narrative. This narrative is designed to manipulate the thoughts of citizens i.e. it is a form of population control. In other words - the government is managing the livestock on behalf of the rulers.

Second, it exempts politicians & all levels of government, schools, universities, and mainstream media. Why would that be? Because these institutions are the key way that governments spread approved narratives. In other words - they are the outlet for ruler-friendly and ruler-endorsed propaganda.

This Legislation is Anti-human and Anti-Life

The rulers take advantage of many people’s desire to have a nice world; a world free of offence; a world where everyone is happy and nice to each other; a world where everyone agrees on the “important” things; a world with no hatred and no tribalism. In a word ..... Utopia.

The Utopians – now known as Globalists – want to create such a world but not to improve the lives of the many. No …. their Utopia aims to solidify and further lock in their power and wealth at the expense of the rest of the world. The sort of world they want sees people left with just enough to avoid rioting and elite lynching. People must be moulded by perpetual narrative attack and fear to accept their place and not think for themselves or question the rulers.

One problem with this is that people have feelings.

Feelings are not up for debate or manipulation. They just are. End of story.

What does this mean? A few examples – some cultures or groups may feel sick at the thought of female genital mutilation (FGM). They may protest, write articles or campaign against the practice because they feel so strongly about it. The cultures or groups that support FGM may feel hurt or “harmed” by these protests and attitudes. The government’s proposed legislation could be triggered to suppress discussion due to a perceived “hatred” between the opposing groups.

The feelings people have are based on the beliefs they hold. Beliefs are up for discussion only if the person chooses to engage in analysis or debate about their beliefs. People can have all sorts of strange or irrational beliefs often based on rubbish they have been taught or exposed to. Some people believe that people with different coloured skin are inferior. Only free and open rational discussion can change hearts and minds ...... not government decrees, mandates, or censorship.

Where there is a right to intervene is when a person’s feelings and beliefs lead to actions which impact another’s rights and freedoms – [please see Appendix 1 for the fundamental elements – this presentation is concerned with element 4 – Freedom of Thought, Belief and Speech but the others are equally important and when threatened by government overreach will trigger protests which authoritarian rulers will seek to suppress with legislation very much like the Bill under discussion here].

Let me be clear … a delinquent texting rubbish on Twitter is far less dangerous than a government making mistakes and basing policies on those mistakes or worse spreading propaganda to achieve a political goal using deception and malfeasance.

Just imagine – a government goes down a policy track based on flawed information and beliefs and their actions cause real harm, mayhem and chaos along with feelings of despair & hopelessness for millions of people … AND – to top it off - the people are suppressed in their ability to protest and seek a remedy!

Recently in Australia the Royal Commission into Robodebt revealed that the program “..was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal …. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms.” It illustrated “a myriad of ways that things can go wrong through venality, incompetence and cowardice." A federal court judge had previously ruled that Robodebt was a "massive failure in public administration." The saga proves very well that governments can get important issues dead wrong. The proposed Misinformation Bill will make it harder to expose such crimes and hold politicians and public servants accountable – particularly since the Bill excludes them.

By the way – the Robodebt scandal could very well be the “canary in the coalmine” regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence to maximise efficiencies in business and government. Aiming for maximum efficiency and productivity does not always work in favour of the people living and working in such a high pressure environment.

When the empire used “weapons of mass destruction” as the excuse to invade Iraq people protested and exposed the lies … eventually. If the Misinformation Bill is put in place what happens the next time we are being manipulated into war? One person’s misinformation is another person’s truth. Only open discussion – not censorship – will show what is really going on.

When people protest in Hong Kong or Iran they are labelled freedom fighters and heroes by our political class and media.

What about the peaceful protests against government attacks on core human rights in Canada and Melbourne which saw protesters pilloried by Justin Trudeau and Daniel Andrews? They were labelled as terrorists, shot at, subject to bank freezes and worse.

It’s all part of narrative control. The proposed legislation is a disaster for our country and its people. Ignorance and stupidity are best dealt with by education.

Good quality honest education. For example, were school students taught that the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident was effectively a false flag operation which facilitated the legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces to South Vietnam and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam?

What happens when governments put in place policy based on flawed science? The classic example is Soviet era Lysenkoism. It’s a case study into the dangerous consequence when politics and ideology intrude into science. Was this taught in schools to Aussie students?

Trofim Lysenko's influence on science and agriculture was supported by Stalin so no criticism was allowed. Scientists who opposed Lysenkoism were not just censored by the government they often “disappeared.” Thus the fatally flawed policies continued for far longer than would have been possible had informed debate been allowed and encouraged. This exacerbated a severe reduction in Soviet food production which led to famine killing millions.

The key point is that some topics are taboo - never to be discussed in public. There are questions the rulers do not want asked let alone answered – see Appendix 4 for a list we have previously presented for discussion. No politicians have helped get answers to us. Noam Chomsky articulated the issue very well – “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow a very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”

A better way to deal with digital platforms & human rights

The number one thing to do after the proposed legislation is thrown into the dustbin of history is to establish a Bill of Digital Rights.

Bearing in mind that American taxpayer money created the internet we would like to see a Digital Bargain formed around what could now be considered an essential public utility. Americans have generously allowed the world to share in its marvels. To use the “people’s internet,” platforms such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook must respect the fundamental rights of the people. Perhaps they should pay rent too (much easier to collect than taxes).
 
Regarding freedom of speech – a platform cannot eject or refuse access to any person just because they disagree with someone’s political or social views. The internet is a conduit of communication. ISPs and Social Media platforms are not publishers of information and data. Think about phone lines. Would it be OK for a telecommunications company to stop people communicating on their network just because they didn’t agree with the communication or approve of the communicator?
 
There are many critical issues in this topic – including: Surveillance; Bio-metric Data; Facial Recognition; Artificial Intelligence (including the use of “deep fake” audio and video of individuals); Digital ID; Social Credit Score; App Attack (e.g. phone apps that breach your fundamental rights to exploit you and your data); Government transparency; Encryption; Net Neutrality; Data collection usage & storage; Privacy; Digital Money; Democracy.

Remember - Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. All technological marvels can be used as tools of exploitation and control.

The brilliant leaders and geeks at Facebook, Twitter and the rest should find it pretty easy to banish malicious social media bots from their platforms. These are one of the tools that are used by genuine threats to our country and privacy. For example they are involved in: Artificially amplifying the popularity of a person or movement (often used by politicians and their parties); Influencing elections; Manipulating financial markets; Amplifying phishing attacks; Spreading spam; Shutting down free speech (for example during the 2010-2012 Arab Spring movement, government agencies used Twitter bots to overwhelm social media feeds. These bots were used to deliberately push down the messages of protestors and activists).

The Albanese government has been under pressure to “crack down” on “misinformation & disinformation.” This is part of a global agenda. At present Australia is in lockstep with other countries being pushed by various entities and organisations such as the UN, World Economic Forum, World Health Organisation, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund.

America, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and much of Europe are in the same position.

Why does much of the leadership of these countries work in a way that appears to serve elite interests rather than the interests of their people and country?

There are several possible reasons:

Bank Reform Now would like to see Prime Minister Albanese stand up for Australia’s sovereignty and set an example for the rest of the world by refusing to implement the policies being pushed by various elite pressure groups. Australians can show what is possible when key rights are genuinely respected.
Some good signs would be the government:

Australians want politicians that are clearly working in their interests. For decades we have seen the exact opposite.

It should not be bordering on impossible for most people to own a home of their own and afford their family’s requirements. People want to work and get a fair go without being fleeced to support a corrupt system. They want to own something and be happy. And … they want to be free to protest and communicate about these sorts of issues on the various internet platforms if and when necessary.

Government does not always get it right. Science is never settled

This is the harsh truth. The following historical quotes are just some examples. Also see Appendix 2 for more examples where dangerous ideas and substances were able to be profited from because their safety and effectiveness were not properly questioned, investigated and debated. Appendix 3 contains several relevant quotes from a few respected commentators regarding freedom of speech.
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“We would like to make clear that the agency at no time had a policy or a program to protect Nazi war criminals, or to help them escape justice for their actions during the war.”  [Please review Operation Paperclip and MK Ultra for more information].

"By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty."

“We understand that not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” [Please review The Ukraine War: Chomsky Responds >> https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/03/the-ukraine-war-chomsky-responds/ – for more information and an excellent demonstration of the critical need for opposing ideas to be explored with respect and freedom of speech].

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

“Democratic countries actually don’t invade their neighbours ..…. Democratic countries don’t harbour terrorists ….... Democratic countries don't use weapons of mass destruction.”

“Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.”

“The Liberation of East Timor is one of the more noble things that Australia has done.”

"It is hard for us, and without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any realm of reason that would see us losing $1 in any of those (Credit Default Swap) transactions.”

"There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead."

“I made it very clear, we had a lengthy dinner there in Paris, about our very significant concerns about the capabilities of conventional submarines to deal with the new strategic environment we’re faced with.”

“The Albanese Government believes a strong and independent media is vital to democracy and holding governments to account. Journalists should never face the prospect of being charged or even jailed just for doing their jobs.” [Please bring Julian Assange home and end this stomach-churning hypocrisy].

“If you get the vaccine, you won’t get COVID and you won’t transmit COVID.”

“This inflation will be transitory.”

“It is still plausible that the first increase in the cash rate will not be before 2024.”

“The accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the earth.”

“The Russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of Ukraine without provocation, without justification, without necessity.”

“Russia blew up its Nord Stream pipeline.”
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Tolerating the expression of ideas we don't like is not easy or natural. It often goes against the grain and takes some willpower and effort. It is similar to the battle within we face when supporting the right to life.

History well shows that the governments that have the power and inclination to censor bad ideas or points of view will most certainly stifle good ideas that they don't like.

Similarly we spare the lives of the worst criminals because to give the power to kill to governments, politicians and judges sees horrific mistakes and crimes that go against our ideals of living in civilised freedom. 

You may recall - during the COVID disaster that many politicians and celebrities were extremely cruel and rude to people who felt safer not injecting an unproven substance into their bodies. Of course those celebrities made full use of their freedom of speech. Arnold Schwarzenegger infamously and angrily told them –

Well attacks on fundamental freedoms and rights will lead protestors to march in the streets telling the rulers and their politicians –

Thank you kindly for your interest and time on this important issue.

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The complete presentation with relevant Bill excerpts, cartoons, pictures, important links, and the appendix can be seen as a pdf - link below. In addition we have put all the direct links used in the submission below.

Link to the Government's proposed Bill plus submissions below.

Contact your local MP and Senators right now and tell them to listen to the people. Tell them to back off ..... Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that must be protected. Tell them to loudly and proudly oppose the Misinformation Bill..!!

Find your MPs + Senators right here >> https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members


BONUS for reading this far - APPENDIX 4 Lists a collection of taboo questions - Here are a few. It seems our politicians just won't answer them but Aussies really want to know -

>> Do you believe the media is genuinely holding the government to account?

>> Many believe that the major news organisations are actually serving elite interests ... possibly through close co-operation with major US and British intelligence agencies. This would mean that much of the "news" we are fed is actually propaganda. What do you think?

>> Is it true that the government has passed legislation that will allow the banks to take their customers' deposits and superannuation during a financial crisis? During a crisis you should be looking after the people's interests. The banking system is being used as a tool to control and impoverish nations. Do not lock us into such a system by banning cash. Do not bail-out or bail-in this crooked system. Reform it to work for the country and people.

>> During the recent a once in a hundred years crisis. People were facing joblessness, bankruptcy, and eviction. The government appeared to be: shielding the banks; increasing the country's debt to the international banking cartel; diverting money in a reckless and unproductive manner. Why didn't the government utilise our sovereign monetary system - as clearly spelled out in our Constitution - in the way our forefathers had designed?

>> Don't you think it is a pity that our country does not have a Sovereign Wealth fund?