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See below the response I received from Senator Michaelia Cash this morning, to my email addressed to Anthony Albanese and others on which she was included.

(Although it must be remembered the Morrison Government previously supported disinformation/misinformation laws, see this Media Release from March 2022: https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/media-releases/new-disinformation-laws)

Email from Michaelia Cash:

Thank you for your email.

I want to reaffirm that the Liberal Party is strongly opposing Labor’s planned censorship laws.

In my opinion, how dare Mr Albanese attack Australians’ right to free speech. Mr Albanese MUST be stopped before it is too late.

Let me assure you that it was the Labor members in the House, including Mr Albanese, who voted for this bill. The Coalition members did NOT. The Coalition firmly believes that this Bill represents an attack on the free speech of Australians.

Labor’s law is a bad law, and I assure you that under Peter Dutton, the Coalition will not support Labor’s Misinformation Bill. We will not support Labor’s attack on free speech. Free speech is fundamental to our democratic society and the Coalition will always defend it.

We’re now witnessing the Government trying to rush this Bill through the Senate and avoid public scrutiny of their planned new censorship laws.

Many Australians will recall all the times the Prime Minister and his MPs referred to any comments they didn’t like in the Voice referendum debate as ‘misinformation”. If these laws had been in place last year, there is no doubt Labor would have used them in an attempt to stifle debate.

We’ve seen religious leaders, senior lawyers, human rights and civil liberties groups all come out against Labor’s Bill. Thousands of submissions have been made to the Senate inquiry, but not published. So much for Mr Albanese’s promise of transparency.

If you would like to please sign the petition now to tell the Albanese Labor Government to stop their attacks on free speech in Australia.

I can assure you that as a member of the Liberal Party, along with my colleagues, I will NOT be voting for this Bill. It is Labor members who are voting for the Bill.

Thank you for raising this important issue with me.

https://www.binthebill.au/

Kind regards

Michaelia Cash

Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash

SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Shadow Attorney-General

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

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so if as Cash says, Dutton opposes the bill, why did he abstain instead of voting against it ?

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Looks like Dutton is listed as a 'no' here?

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Chamber_documents/HoR/Divisions/details?id=2368

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I stand corrected ! I'm sure he was listed as abstaining when I looked at one stage. Oh, well :)

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Yes Bryan, you are correct in saying that because we were initially all misled as it was not reported correctly. It took an independent media woman to hunt it down. Matthew Coory interviews her on his "Other Side" Channel.

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and here we are where 20% of the workforce is a public servant, and we can't get even a vote count in parliament correct. SMH.

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Yes, it's utterley shocking, given the importance and number count. The "Other Side" interviews the journalist (sorry, can't remember her name) and they both go over it like terrier dogs...... giving it a good account. It was because of this woman, that the error was corrected. Utterley appalling.

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This is interesting…so Dutton, the leader of the Liberal Pary, abstained on an earlier vote?

In her response to me Michaelia Cash said “Labor’s law is a bad law, and I assure you that under Peter Dutton, the Coalition will not support Labor’s Misinformation Bill.”

Just how firm is Dutton on protecting the free speech of Australians?

I would say not very…

Dutton is no friend of people questioning taxpayer-funded vaccination policy, he is definitely part of the problem.

The actions of the Coalition under Scott Morrison during the Covid debacle, and before re the implementation of the No Jab, No Pay coercive vaccination law for children in 2016 must be investigated.

For info, see my paper Misfeasance in Public Office? The Destruction of Voluntary Informed Consent for Vaccination, June 2024: https://vaccinationispolitical.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/misfeasance-in-public-office-the-destruction-of-voluntary-informed-consent-for-vaccination.pdf

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Elizabeth, please see my comment above to Bryan. Peter Dutton is firm and he DID infact vote, so the question remains on such an historically profound vote, why was the error made in the first instance? Why did it take an independent journalist to pick that error up? The count has since been corrected.

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One significant person was absent from voting... then the voting wasn't reported accurately.... Some good aussie reporting around this topic, see Damian Coory's channel: The Other Side - we enjoy his reporting which provides another view to counter mainstream..... really worth subscribing to this independent journalism;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w34KVkLw38

or The Other Side website:

https://www.othersidetv.com.au

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Thanks for the tip Rose, will check out The Other Side.

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Thanks for reminding readers of the attempt by Scomo to get similar legislation through in 2022 (legislation that Ms Cash would no doubt have supported:)), and how it would be naive to imagine this is a party political issue.

I recall that lots of draconian legislation (relating to internet use) was brought in (in the guise of enhancing community safety) during the long Tory rule in Britain that recently ended. I remind myself of this when I see and hear conservative youtubers dumping on the Starmer government.

Think of pollies as mere stage actors in a play that has been written, and which is being directed, by undeclared persons from without. One actor steps out and another moves in place using the same script.

Only fools get excited by election results.:)

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Election results...what a joke... The uni party just taking it in turns.

Davos Man Starmer now running the show, after the Tories who were riddled with WEF influence...as we are too with our treacherous governments in Australia.

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Do you believe Jacinda Ardern has been groomed for the leadership of the first (official) world government?

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Crikey, that's a horrible thought...

But cabinets seem to have been penetrated all over the place, as boasted by Klaus Schwab, with Young Global Leaders Trudeau, Macron, Ardern, Merkel, etc, and they have wrought the damage.

How to make them accountable?

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If there was a market, my money would be on Ardern - if the price was right.:)

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Brilliant news, made my day.

And made all those calls to senators' offices well worth it - thanks to everyone who did likewise.

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Yes the callers likely helped ....so not just the Senators who deserve praise, all heroes....& I would bet some Senators were offered MUCH fat jobs after Politics to support it....

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yes - those with WEFer connections, no doubt.

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Thank you Rebekah, I am still on the trail of Greens because it is time they chose which side of the battle they are on; the side of those who consider us cattle, or those who see us as human beings. I know one who was, I believe, a very good hearted person who may have been silenced by threats. Adam Bandt needs to send a message to Australians that Greens are not lapdogs for any ruling party. The Greens will reap the benefits at the next election if they show such integrity.

I am still buoyed by your news and grateful to you and Aligned Council of Australia for the hard work all of you have done. God bless you.

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People started voting for the Greens in big number (big enough for them to hold the balance of power in the upper house) as a consequence of the msm spooking the public about AGW. They do poorly on issues around social justice and often just support the sitting government on non environmental matters as a trade off for getting traction with some of their environmental bills.

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Senators David Pocock, Fatima Payman, Lidia Thorpe, Pocock, Tyrrell, Payne, Lambie and Rennick THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU.....what a relief!

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So they should & prove their politicians

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Good.

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Rebekah, Alison Bevege, Andrew Lowenthal....& I am sure others..great work...ALL heroes too in my book.

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From Senator Malcolm Roberts today- ":On Monday morning, the Senate will cast its final vote. This is where the true colours of Australia’s Senators will be revealed. Who will stand for Australia, and who will side with censorship?"

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Even Lidia Thorpe doesn’t trust her own Leftard pollies! Imagine that!!!

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I’m glad she understood the point that this bill is bad for everyone and that governments will always use whatever laws allow them to squash dissent.

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Ha ha ha. You really think she 'understands'? More likely she is just pissing someone in the ALP off whom she is in conflict with.:)

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I have discovered that there is a lot of SELF censorship happening in the media (both social and mainstream) these days. For instance, words I grew up using like; shit (which I find less offensive than 'poo', btw), piss, rape, nigger, coon, hell and fuck, all seem to be taboo. Have I missed some?

Before the great plague I remember Merv Hughes doing some test cricket commentary and getting pulled up (whilst live) for using the word 'piss'. He was told by a co commentator (Triple J) that he should have used urinate, instead. This, I found most revealing ... shocking, even.

I have attracted looks of self-righteous indignation, furthermore, for using the words 'negro' and 'aboriginal' (believe it or not) and the phrases; 'yellow people' and 'brown people'.

I have often wondered whether we are further along the censorial spectrum than we were in 1980, say. I tend to think we are ... that we became more permissive (in terms of language) from the 1950s into the 60s and 70s but have since relapsed back to something akin to the 1940s and 50s.

To me, context is everything. Was the speaker/writer malicious in their intent? How well known is the listener/reader to the speaker/writer?

Comedians are, by nature, irreverent. It must be tortuous being a comedian during these days of PC. Writing of comedians, it is interesting to note that they were missing in action during the great plague, chose not to satirise the government when there was so much material to work with. I recall watching a video involving three young comedians engaged in a zoom-type meeting in which they seriously spoke of how they were adapting to being locked down. This was the best they could come up with, apparently.:)

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Always believed it would be from start

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