Regulating speech at law is much like regulating breath. At what point is an intake of air deemed inappropriate to the body and worthy of rationing? When will exhalation be allowed? The very idea that speech requires ordering and control is the first step to preventing its exercise. Death, in this case to freedom of thought and political expression, is bound to follow.

Unfortunately, the rationing of speech and its exercise is a favourite of governments the world over, even in liberal democratic countries. As it’s the only genuine way one can address the gross inequality between the power of the citizenry and the governing authorities exercising such a right is bound to strike terror in the hearts of those who shun accountability and criticism. Importantly, it also points to the possibility of losing control, be it over official narratives or myths deemed palatable to those in power.

Much of this was evident in the recently ditched Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 proposed by Australia’s Albanese government. It was a bill that had already made its debut in a previous iteration but had been revised and redressed for parliamentary consumption. The revision, and redressing, failed to impress.

In Australian Senate hearings on the bill, the edifice began to crumble. Nationals Senator Ross Cadell, in a question to the Communications Department, wondered why there wasn’t a single witness not a member of the government agency who “says this bill should pass as it is.” On November 22, the Greens demanded that the government pull the draft, arguing that it exempted such media titans as Rupert Murdoch while shifting the responsibility “to tech companies and billionaires like Elon Musk to determine what is true or false under ambiguous definitions.”

Facing certain defeat, the Albanese government revealed its position a few days later. “Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through........

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