The latest string of AFP raids bring forward a important discussion in Australian politics. Which political parties support press freedom, freedom of speech and privacy and which parties don’t? While each party may have official stance on these issues, the actions of each party also work to tell us what each party really thinks of these issues.
Liberal Coalition: Safe to say, the Liberal Coalition probably has the worst track record of any Australian Party when it comes to press freedom and privacy. They have presented the 2018 telecommunications bill to Parliament and championed it as a way forward in national security, when in reality it allows for the average Australian citizens privacy to be undermined. While at the same time, the backdoor which was not implemented but is still in the minds of the coalition would work to create a weakness in the software which is forced to use it, allowing cyber-criminals easier access to citizen’s online information. At the same time, Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison’s support of the AFP’s actions directly point out that the coalition is perfectly fine with the press losing its freedom to present vital information to the public. However, the coalition is seemingly for further ‘freedom of speech’, though in a warped manner. They have supported Israel Folau’s case as his freedom to speak as he wishes, though it is very much uncertain if his speech even falls under freedom of speech, which is not directly protected or defined in the Australian constitution. No matter the case, the coalition lacks on most of the fronts and only really supports freedom of speech which furthers their cause:
Rating: 2/10
Australian Labor Party: The Australian Labor party is vague on all of these issues, attacking the coalition when they take a stance in any of these places but otherwise stepping back. The party supports the increased punishment of anti-gay speech, but only in vague terms as to what constitutes this sort of speech, while also being vehemently against Israel Folau. While this may seem like a breach of freedom of speech, the term, as we explained on a previous post does not protect against consequences of that speech should it be vilifying a group. However, Labor’s wish to increase the punishment for anti-LBGT speech as it could harm someone does not fall under the vilification clause, so there is much room for error in that debate. At the same time, the party did support the 2018 telecommunications bill, but this was in turn to get its Medevac bill passed through parliament, so it is not necessarily clear where the party stands in online privacy either. The party has also attacked Dutton for his support on the AFP raids, with shadow minister of home affairs Kristina Keneally stating ‘Protecting our national security is complex work, but it always must have the right checks and balances but Dutton must explain what he knew about these two raids.’ At the same time the ALP do have an official policy on whistleblowers which works in favor of the whistleblowers, but it is quite barebones. Overall, Labor is quite vague on where they stand with the issues but their opposition to the coalition means that their actions do support freedom of speech, press freedom and privacy.
Rating: 5/10
The Greens:
The Greens are a mixed bag on where they stand on all of these issues. Their official policy page presents the party as quite pro-press freedom, and gives the impression that they want to protect privacy and freedom of speech. However, the mention of regulation of the internet to achieve this goal leaves the actual intent of the policy in question, as government regulation of the internet could lead to the internet losing freedom of speech and privacy, depending on how said government defines these things. On the side of their actions, Green leader Richard Di Natale has been incredibly vocal in his and his parties opposition against the AFP raids on the ABC and Newscorp, solidifying their stance as pro-press freedom. At the same time, the Greens were the only other party besides the Centre Alliance to vote against the telecommunications bill in both the House and the Senate, securing their dedication to internet privacy. The Greens have a far better track record than the ALP or Coalition in terms of the issues presented, though they do have room to work on.
Rating: 8/10
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal democrats are one of the parties with the most pro stance on Press Freedom, Privacy and Freedom of speech. They support all types of speech on the internet (besides that of aiding or otherwise participating in a criminal act) as well as full press freedom. However, their later stance against people’s freedom of not being harassed contradicts their earlier stance of being against the limitation of speech no matter what it says. As such, while they do stand for free speech, they have a contradicting policy on what exactly constitutes as free speech and what should be protected. At the same time, their lack of action on either press freedom (there are seemingly no comments on the latest raids) or privacy give the impression that the party is only for freedom in name and word alone.
Rating: 7/10
Centre Alliance:
A more South Australian based party, the party is largely supportive of press freedom and privacy. The party completely voted against the 2018 telecommunications act and have spoken out against the AFP raids. At the same time, the party is also incredibly pro-government transparency, which translates into a pro-whistleblower stance. However, a lack of policy on Privacy and Freedom of speech indicates a lack of care for these issues and as such presents the Centre Alliance as a party with little care for these things.
Rating 7/10
Pirate Party
While not a major party, the Pirate party is certainly the most supportive of these issues. Due to being a small party, their actions are limited, however their site gives a full overview on their stance. They are full pro-freedom of speech, with sensible and complex policies surrounding the issue, beating out the Liberal Democrats stance as their own lacks the contradictory nature that the LD’s has. They are also hugely pro-privacy, looking to repeal many of the acts that force metadata retention or citizen surveillance while also looking for ways to ensure that companies stop containing huge amounts of personal data. They are also pro-whistleblowers, but do lack a fully enunciated stance on press freedom, taking them down a notch. The party supportive of all of these issues to the near maximum extent, however due to the their minimal size, they lack any real actions to back these words, so take them at caution.
Rating: 9/10
Overall, there is a wide array of stances held between parties in Australia, with no two parties really overlapping in how they view each of these issues. Interestingly, it seems that as the parties get smaller, their support for these issues goes up. This trend may show that parties with less power want the major parties to have less power as to even up the playing field, though that is really just speculation. And while Politicsbuff does not support or otherwise endorse any of these parties, it is clear to see which party is most supportive of these issues and which party is not.
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