Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need to recognise that the Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code which requires age assurance measures for account holders of search engines must be amended as it represents another layer of digital surveillance, dressed up as child protection and raises many privacy issues.

This urgency motion seeks to defend a fundamental right of the Australian people: the right to privacy. The privacy implications of the Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code are nothing short of staggering. It is alarming, but the government remains silent, leaving it to me to stand here against the steady advance of the surveillance state. First it was a social media ban for under-16s, followed by a YouTube ban, both of which require mandatory IDs for all users of all ages. Now the focus has shifted to search engines. What comes next? This government has consistently failed to defend Australians' civil liberties. Week after week, we see new efforts in this place to erode our right to privacy and our personal freedom online. Let me say from the outset that protecting children online is a moral imperative. No-one in this chamber is going to question that. Measures like safe-search filters for minors, better parental controls and the restriction of harmful content are of course welcome, but let's not kid ourselves—this is not about protecting children; it is about building a surveillance infrastructure under the cover of safety.

Under this new code, Australians who are logged into search engines like Google, Microsoft and others will be required to undergo age assurance. That's not a polite, 'How old are you?' at the cinema; that's government ID checks. That's biometric scanning. That's data mining. We're rapidly marching towards a society where privacy online is not just frowned upon but perhaps going to become illegal. That's what's going on. Imagine this: your face, your ID and your personal browsing history all linked, logged and stored in the name of keeping kids safe. But I ask you this: who is keeping citizens safe from this creeping authoritarianism disguised as policy?

Let's be clear, most Australians are already deeply embedded in these platforms, Gmail, YouTube, Outlook et cetera. This is not a niche issue. This affects the vast majority of Australians and their right to explore the internet freely without facial recognition or ID uploads. It hangs in the balance. Even more alarming is that this framework wasn't designed by us here in this place; it was co-developed by the tech giants themselves and registered by our eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. For now this code only applies to logged-in users, but we all know it's just the beginning. The slippery slope of Canberra and its bureaucracy is very, very real.

I cannot stress enough that we are not, nor do we want to become, China or North Korea. We're Australians. That's what we are. Australians have a right to privacy, to autonomy and to live free from constant digital scrutiny. The solution to unsafe content online is simply empowering parents, not expanding government backed surveillance. If this code continues in its current form, it's going to set a dangerous precedent that everyone's search history, browsing behaviour and identity can be monitored so long as it's done under the label of safety. It is a slippery slope, like I said before. No good will come of this.

Yes, we've got to protect kids online, but not by sacrificing the freedoms of every Australian adult in the process. The code has to be amended. We have to remove the age assurance requirement and restore some common sense before the only thing that's going to be safe online is big tech's grip on all of our lives. To the Greens I say thank you for supporting my motion in defence of privacy and against creeping surveillance. I never thought I would say that, but thank you. Hell must have frozen over! To the Liberal Party, your 'we believe' statement says that you support the inalienable rights and freedoms of all peoples. Here is your chance to show it. Stand on the right side of history and join me in defending the Australian people. All senators, support my motion. Let's see what the Libs do.