The Australian government is still attempting to hurriedly pass the Online Safety Bill and is giving its citizens limited chances to reply and make their concerns heard.
This bill is bigger than sex worker’s rights - proposals such as “Mandatory age verification for online pornographic material” may sound like it targets only the adult industry, until you see Home Affairs’ keenness to use its proposed Face Verification Service for age verification. Mandated services like this would be a massive invasion of privacy for all Australians who use the internet, and pose some very worrying consequences for individuals as well as our democratic society as a whole.
It’s important to remember that the e-Saftey Commissioner (the person who would be solely responsible for deciding if certain material is ‘harmful’ or ‘dangerous’) is an unelected offical. This means that the public has no say in who is in charge of what material we get to view online. The current e-Saftey Commissioner is an American with ties to the organisation (Exodus Cry) who is largely responsible for SESTA/FOSTA.
Please, contact your local MP and tell them that you disagree with the proposed Online Safety Bill and are worried about the harm it will cause all Australians. Below are links for further reading - thank you to my fans and clients who have already written letters/phoned their local representative but the battle isn’t over yet! We need to keep shouting and making ourselves heard to stop this bill going through.
