What if the government could get your lawful opinions deleted without ever banning a single word itself?
That is exactly what the Albanese Labor Government is preparing right now.
By George Christensen
Earlier this month, the Government released the exposure draft of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026.
Labor is selling one friendly feature called “My Feed, My Way”, letting adults choose their own social media feed. Sounds harmless, right?
But the 75-page draft goes much, much further. It would make online services legally responsible for preventing broadly defined “harm”, with penalties of up to $109.2 million.
Here is the thing: you would never need to break a law. Your lawful speech could still become a legal risk for the platform carrying it. Social media platforms would delete first and ask questions later.
That reverses the presumption of a free society. Government should prove speech is unlawful before touching it.
We need to act now. Labor already has a detailed draft ready to be turned into legislation. Once the Albanese Government settles on a final bill and takes it to Parliament, Labor’s strict party discipline will make it far harder to stop.
Make no mistake, Billy: this is censorship by proxy. Labor imposes a vague preventive duty, backs it with crushing penalties, and lets Facebook, X and even internet search engines do the silencing.
It gets worse. Sections 25C(2), 25D(2) and 25G(2) let the Communications Minister add new categories of “harmful” material through legislative instruments, without Parliament passing a new Act. That means a minister can expand the kinds of lawful posts placed at risk of being taken down from the internet. Future ministers, from any party, would inherit that same power.
The draft even contains a vague ideological test. Material promoting “hostile attitudes towards women or gender equality” counts as harmful, with no definition given. So lawful debate about feminism, family roles or religious teaching could become a “platform safety risk”.
The free-speech safeguards in the bill are practically worthless. Section 233 only protects Australia’s narrow implied freedom of political communication. There is no clear protection for lawful political, religious, journalistic, academic or satirical speech.
And forget it just being about social media. This scheme reaches everything: search engines, app stores, hosting, artificial intelligence tools, messaging and even devices. Big Tech can afford compliance armies. Smaller platforms will censor aggressively, block Australians or shut down.
The Government is trying to frame this as being about tackling predators, terrorists and other criminals. But that’s nonsense. Child abuse, grooming, terrorism and threats are already crimes. The Government should enforce existing laws against actual offenders rather than clamping down on lawful free speech.
Add your name to our petition urging Albanese and his government to scrap this draft law.
Here is the good news: We can win this! We did it before with the Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, their first attempt to harm free speech.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed this proposal, and he can direct Federal Cabinet to drop it. Communications Minister Anika Wells is responsible for turning the proposal into legislation, and she can recommend that the draft be withdrawn before any bill reaches Parliament.
Your signature builds measurable public opposition while the Government can still abandon this proposal. The Coalition already opposes the draft. Every signature strengthens the resistance, puts pressure on the Senate crossbench and makes Labor’s position more politically costly.
If we win, any future child-protection law must target precisely defined illegal conduct. Parliament, and only Parliament, will approve any new restricted category. Citizen journalism, religious teaching, academic inquiry and satire stay protected. Parents keep real tools, and the internet stays open.
If we fail, Australia gets a permanent federal censorship machine. Social media platforms will suppress lawful speech before anyone even complains. Ministers will expand “harm”, and therefore what can be censored, with the stroke of a pen. Identity checks and age verification will spread, gutting privacy and anonymity.
And future governments of any party will inherit that machinery and aim it at new targets.
There is hope. But only if you act right now.
Labor already has the blueprint for these sweeping new powers. We need a flood of signatures before the Government turns that blueprint into law.
Thank you for standing up for free speech in Australia.
George Christensen and the entire team CitizenGO
P.S. Labor’s Digital Duty of Care draft would let ministers and regulators pressure platforms into censoring lawful Australian speech. The Government already has the draft and could move it towards Parliament. Click here and sign our petition to oppose it now!
