Please attribute to Law Council of Australia President Arthur Moses SC:
“Media freedom and whistleblowing of atrocities here and overseas have been put at risk by the ill-informed livestream laws passed by the Federal Parliament.
“The Law Council is disappointed and concerned these ‘world-first laws’, which were rammed through in 24 hours without scrutiny and consultation, will have negative unintended consequences.
“We now have a situation where important news can be censored across social media platforms, which is contrary to the democratic principle of a free press, which exists to hold governments to account.
“While the Law Council agrees that action needs to be taken in this area, consultation was required. These laws should have been subject to the committee process.
“When parliament returns after the federal election these laws must be reviewed and amendments made to deal with the negative impacts they have the potential of causing.”
