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Last week, Opposition Leader Dutton replied to an interviewer, calling for the public to dob in loved ones, friends, or workmates who have changed their opinion of the Government for the worse to ASIO. After facing backlash on social media, I expected the Opposition Leader to clarify his remarks, but he has yet to do so.

His advocacy for Australians to report their fellow Australians to ASIO for expressing concerns about government COVID measures—which destroyed lives, health and families—is deeply troubling. 

We are witnessing police actions in Canada and the UK where merely attending a protest rally, without any violent actions, is grounds for arrest and imprisonment. Is this a glimpse into the future under the Liberal Party?

Transcript

Last week, Opposition Leader Dutton, in a media interview, made a comment we expected he would clarify but he hasn’t. In the interview, the interviewer said: 

We saw the terror threat raised to Probable yesterday. But there are multiple fronts now. 

One of those fronts that I found most interesting has come out of Covid. There’s the conspiracy theorists, the anti-vaxxers … what does it say to you about government overreach, and government, essentially, controlling people’s lives and the effects that that can have?” 

Peter Dutton’s answer: 

None of that, though, should give rise to the sort of conduct that you’re referring to. I would say to anybody in our community, whether it’s within your friendship group, your family group, the work group, whatever it might be, where you see somebody’s behaviour changing, regardless of their motivation, or if they’ve changed radically their thoughts about society and government … you need to report that information to ASIO, or to the Australian Federal Police as a matter of urgency”. 

In 1997, in the legal case Lange v the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the High Court found: 

  • Under a legal system based on the common law, everybody is free to do anything, subject only to the provisions of the law, so that one proceeds upon an assumption of freedom of speech and turns to the law to discover the established exceptions to it. 

To protect human life, free speech stops at incitement to violence against others and at incitement to break the law.  

Free speech does not stop, as Peter Dutton suggests, merely at criticisms of others. Advocating that Australians be dobbed into ASIO for venting about government COVID measures, destroying their lives, health and families is a tone-deaf disgrace. In Canada and the UK right now, police response to criticism of the government is underway. Mere attendance at a protest rally without any violent words or actions is now enough to be arrested and imprisoned. Is this a glimpse of the future everyday Australians will endure under the supposedly honourable men and women of the Liberal Party, under an opposition leader who has come to bury Menzies, not to praise Menzies. I call on the Opposition Leader to clarify his remarks immediately. 

1 reply
  1. Diane Drayton BUCKLAND
    Diane Drayton BUCKLAND says:

    Many of you would surely have noticed that the Entire Internet had been hijacked soon after the Covid Fraud began — you are allegedly, fed the ‘search results’ that they want you to see – (it has been made very difficult to do independent/unbiased/free searches unless you have the specific website information you need to search) due to alleged colossal global agenda/control/corruption/conflicts of interest so extensive, it’s jaw dropping and utterly disgraceful, terrifying and will destroy our lives and our world as we have always known it and the fact that there has been no one to stop it up till now, demonstrates how evil and truly sinister and all encompassing it is.
    Censorship from the start of the Covid “Thing” has been jaw-dropping – so many experts from different fields, many groups and individuals, even Politicians have been targeted, censored, social media accounts et al shut down – any voices opposing the Official Government Narratives / Agenda were dealt with tyrannically – it’s utterly mind boggling how this can happen !
    As of Thursday 4 April, 2024 I too, joined the ranks of not only all those who were in facebook jail for 30 days so many times – and all those whose voices have been silenced permanently / banned from Information Sharing / Relentless ‘Fact Checking’ by Facebook – how many have had Facebook Demanding I/D and then have Facebook DISABLING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE/ACCOUNT permanently – as they say you still don’t follow their Community standards on account integrity and authentic identity.
    It’s absolutely criminal !
    I shared Information from very credible and wonderful/incredible groups and people who bring the truth of what’s really going on / and share differing views, opinions, evidence from that of Governments and their narrative / agendas / interests.

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