Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Labor’s Digital Duty of Care bill are about “putting the power back in the hands of Australians” as he fields accusations the laws are an attempt at politically motivated censorship.
“If you want to go and continue to scroll and use the algorithms, you can do so. But if you want to opt out, you can certainly do so as well,” he told the Today show.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he presented his new social media rules at Parliament House in Canberra. Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese dismissed assertions the laws would give disproportionate power to the e-Safety Commissioner and the communications minister, and said Nationals leader Matt Canavan had been “disingenuous” and deliberately misrepresented the legislation.
“The whole parliament has a say … and under these laws, this isn’t about censorship. This isn’t about giving Anika Wells power. This is about giving your listeners power, and people on their devices having the power themselves to either opt in or opt out. It’s that simple.
“Matt Canavan actually knows he’s been disingenuous because all of these things will be disallowable. That is, it will be up to the whole parliament, like the other previous laws have been.”