One of the world’s leading public intellectuals and free speech advocates, Michael Shellenberger, will be in attendance today at the National Press Club for the address by The Hon. Anika Wells MP.
Professor Michael Shellenberger has been a guest of the Institute of Public Affairs in Australia this past week to provide briefings to Members of Parliament, the media, and the public about the dangers of the federal government’s proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation.
“I am excited to be attending the National Press Club address and I look forward to Minister Wells explaining why the federal government believes it needs to engage in the biggest censorship campaign of its own people in the internet era,” said Professor Shellenberger.
Writing today for The Australian, Professor Shellenberger said: “The Albanese government’s demand for censorship and the ability to wage informational warfare through the use of fake accounts is an attack on this Western tradition of free speech and democracy. I encourage the people of Australia to use their voices forcefully to oppose it.”
“The Digital Duty of Care legislation is the most radical mass-censorship legislation any Western government has proposed in the internet era,” said Professor Shellenberger.
“Under the rubric of censoring vaguely defined “harmful material”, the government would be able to force internet companies, including news corporations, to take down online news coverage of major events like the Bondi Massacre last year.”
The Institute of Public Affairs has led the debate in Australia about the unacceptable dangers of the Digital Duty of Care legislation.
Director of the IPA’s Law and Freedom Program, Dr Andrew Bushnell, said:
“The Prime Minister wants to determine what all Australians can do, see, and say on the internet, and shut down political debate through the proposed Digital Duty of Care. Australians should be wary of trading the algorithm for the ‘Alborithm’, and letting this government smuggle its failed misinformation laws in through the back door.”
“The legislation cannot be fixed through tinkering or small changes. The entire proposal must be scrapped,” said Dr Bushnell.
“The Prime Minister is using legitimate claims about child safety as a cudgel to engage in rampant political censorship.”
The IPA’s submission can be read here.
Michael Shellenberger is the CBR chair of Politics, Censorship and Free Speech at the University of Austin, the founder of Public.News, and the president of Civilization Works. He was a guest of the Institute of Public Affairs in Australia.
