It sounded an alarm about the health of Australia’s digital town square and the erosion of trust in society, and said we have to clean up our online debates.<\/p>\n
Climate disinformation, the Atlas Network and Dr Karl<\/a><\/p>\n The scourge of AI-slopaganda viral disinformation campaigns, and online attacks against individuals and institutions is going to get far worse before it gets better.<\/p>\n “A robust information ecosystem is critical to the health of Australia’s democracy and to its ability to meet the challenges arising from climate change \u2014 including the need to transition to renewable energy sources,” the report argued.<\/p>\n “However, the committee heard that the integrity of Australia’s information ecosystem is threatened by a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, which is polarising public discourse and eroding trust in science and knowledge institutions.<\/p>\n “Worryingly, the committee heard that Australia has some of the highest levels of concern about information integrity globally.”<\/p>\n The majority report, backed by Labor, Liberal, and Greens senators, made 21 recommendations<\/a> for the federal government.<\/p>\n The recommendations have tried to strike a balance between the principles of free speech and expression, and the vital need for liberal democracies to have information ecosystems that are trustworthy, while acknowledging that “misinformation” and “disinformation<\/a>” can be hard to define.<\/p>\n How to clean up Australia’s information ecosystem<\/p>\n The inquiry took months investigating how mis- and disinformation about climate change and energy is financed, produced and disseminated, and what connections exist between Australian organisations and foreign think tanks<\/a> and influence networks.<\/p>\n Many of the report’s recommendations focused on ways to improve transparency about those networks and their funding sources.<\/p>\n During the inquiry, the committee heard evidence about the role that so-called “dark money” plays in the promulgation of climate and energy related misinformation and disinformation in Australia.<\/p>\n Lies and big tech algorithms can lead to real-world violence<\/a><\/p>\n Hannah Ferguson and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa reflect on the dangers of social media disinformation, and why it can lead to real-world violence.<\/p>\n It received evidence about the lack of transparency around donations to think tanks and third-party affiliated organisations.<\/p>\n It also heard concerns about the growing use of “astroturfing” as a mainstream political tactic in Australia \u2014 where so-called “grassroots” campaigns are, in fact, highly coordinated and well financed, often with links to think tanks, commercial and corporate interests, lobby groups, donors or political parties.<\/p>\n With that in mind, the report has recommended that the federal government explore ways to improve transparency of political campaign activities in Australia, such as the creation of third parties, that are resourced by commercial and corporate interests.<\/p>\n It says the government should explore funding models for independent monitoring support (for example, via the Australian Internet Observatory<\/a>) to track hidden digital influence ecosystems and provide independent transparency and accountability of online platforms.<\/p>\n It says the government needs to keep providing funding support for regional and independent media outlets.<\/p>\n And it says the government should ensure that Australia’s corporate and competition regulators receive proper funding to combat and expose corporate greenwashing.<\/p>\n It has placed a big emphasis on education \u2014 particularly media, digital, and science literacy.<\/p>\n And it has recommended that the federal government officially endorse the Declaration on Information Integrity in Climate Change<\/a> launched at COP30, and adopt the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n What will the recommendations achieve?<\/p>\n It seems clear that the report’s 21 recommendations aren’t the end of the fight to clean up our information ecosystems; they’re the beginning.\u00a0<\/p>\n If more Australians are waking up to the existence of coordinated false and misleading information campaigns that are eroding trust in climate science, obstructing global progress on climate change, and dividing Australian communities, the report’s recommendations probably won’t be the final word on the matter.<\/p>\n Committee chair, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said the inquiry was the first of its kind in Australia.<\/p>\n How Atlas Network shapes the world<\/a><\/p>\n A constant battle of ideas reshapes the world we live in, and few groups have been more successful in winning the war than the little-known Atlas Network.<\/p>\n He said the final report has pooled a lot of information into a single place for academics, policymakers, and journalists to better understand the problems we’re facing and how we might tackle them.<\/p>\n “This inquiry was primarily intended to raise education and awareness on this critical matter, and start a national conversation on what needs to be done to improve transparency and accountability around false, misleading, and deceptive information that has for years challenged science and undermined climate action in Australia,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n “Evidence was provided that a ‘denial machine’ has deliberately obstructed climate and energy policy for decades in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This ‘denial machine’ has included conservative think tanks, law firms, PR firms, consultancies, third-party campaign groups and some conservative media outlets.<\/p>\n “For those who care about a safe climate future, this is deeply concerning,” he said.<\/p>\n New Nationals leader vows to ‘fight back’ for Australians<\/a><\/p>\n With a populist economic message, the new Nationals leader said local manufacturing and higher birth rates were key as he rejected the labels of “left” and “right” politics.<\/p>\n He said the Australian Greens felt that the recommendations in the final report should have gone “harder and further”, but he was still pleased that Labor, Liberal, and Greens senators had found so many areas of agreement.<\/p>\n But in a dissenting report, new Nationals leader Matt Canavan criticised the inquiry, saying it was used to “bully and cajole people into silence”.<\/p>\n “The heart of this inquiry\u2019s approach has been to suppress, ridicule and silence anyone who expresses different views from the current scientific consensus,” he argued.<\/p>\n “The one useful conclusion of the inquiry, however, was that the enormous amount of funding that goes to environmental and activist organisations deserves greater scrutiny.”<\/p>\n Ex-Australian Defence Force leaders go much harder<\/p>\n But to show how seriously we should be taking the issues discussed in the committee’s report, former Australian defence leaders sounded their own alarm last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n And it was fervent.<\/p>\n They warned a “disinformation war” was now being waged on democracies and it was so serious that it has become a national security threat with consequences for Australia’s sovereignty, economic resilience, disaster readiness, institutional trust, and strategic autonomy.<\/p>\n Retired Admiral Chris Barrie, former chief of the Australian Defence Force, said the fight against the disinformation war would require political courage and decisive action in Australia.<\/p>\n Retired Admiral Chris Barrie says fighting the disinformation war will require political courage. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)<\/p>\n Admiral Barrie is a member of the executive of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG).\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Retired](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774727410_740_84a8c90df5ac50498e7cc84c4fe62318.jpeg\")
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