00:00The bill to tackle misinformation and disinformation on social media has been dumped after the
00:07government failed to get the Greens and the Coalition on board.
00:11This bill aimed to give the media watchdog greater powers to force big tech companies
00:16to crack down on misinformation and disinformation on their platforms.
00:21The Greens are against this legislation.
00:23We heard from Green Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Insiders earlier, outlining why.
00:29Take a listen.
00:30Badly and poorly explained and implemented.
00:33The practical implementation was just not there.
00:36And that's true.
00:37And misinformation and disinformation is a problem right around the world.
00:41It's not just in Australia.
00:42We've seen it unfolding in the US during this election.
00:45But unless you deal with it properly, rather than this kind of half-baked option, which
00:50is what the government had put on the table, trying to be all things to all people.
00:55The Coalition has been firmly against this legislation, arguing that it could be used
01:00to censor arguments.
01:01And we've also heard from constitutional law experts throughout this process, raising questions
01:05about social media companies being allowed to define what is misinformation or what is
01:10disinformation.
01:11Earlier, we heard from the Shadow Communications Minister, David Coleman, who said that this
01:16legislation impacted free speech.
01:18The Coalition celebrating that the government has decided to dump it.
01:22Take a listen.
01:23Pretty much everyone who read this bill said, what on earth is going on?
01:29This is not a dystopian novel.
01:32This is the great democracy of Australia.
01:35And yet our Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, wanted to impose this shocking misinformation bill
01:42on our country.
01:43Now, Mr Albanese must rule out bringing forward any version of this misinformation bill, either
01:51before the election or after the election.
01:55And Steph, how has the government responded?
01:57Well, we heard from government frontbencher Murray Watt, who accused the Coalition and
02:02the Greens of teaming up to block legislation that will help change the lives of everyday
02:07Australians.
02:08Let's take a listen to Murray Watt earlier.
02:11It's very disappointing that, again, we see that teaming up between Peter Dutton and the
02:16Greens to block legislation that Labor is attempting to pass and that the community
02:20support.
02:21Like with every other measure we try to do, we see Peter Dutton and the Greens team up
02:26to block what Labor is doing, taking a reckless step to undermine our attempts to look after
02:31Australians and help them with the biggest challenges that we're facing.
02:34Now, in another blow to the government's legislative agenda, it's not going to go ahead with legislation
02:40to overhaul gambling advertising rules this year.
02:46Murray Watt said that basically the legislation was difficult and complex and couldn't be
02:51finalised this week.
02:53Labor had landed on a plan to restrict gambling advertising up until 10pm and ban it altogether
02:59in children's programming, but that had received some frustration and there was agitation from
03:05some Labor MPs who wanted a total ban on gambling advertising.
03:10So the government says that that legislation isn't going to be put forward this week.
03:13It maintains that it will still address it in this term of government, but noting that
03:18an election could be called early next year, that would mean parliament doesn't return.
03:23So this basically puts the question of the future of this legislation into question.
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