Supporters of The People’s Revolution (TPR) will be gathering in King George Square as part of a coordinated national protest in direct opposition to the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023.  The opposition to the bill is due to its severe encroachment on freedom of speech in Australia with no genuine protection for citizens.

Where: King George Square, Brisbane CBD
When: 10:30am Wednesday 2nd August 2023
What: Rally with speeches, followed by a march through the city

Interview opportunities:

Tristian “Triccy” Vanrye, the leader of The People's Revolution
John Urane from “Free Assange”

Both will be available at 10 AM for interviews prior to the start of the rally.

Program for the event:

1.       Intro song
2.       Welcome, followed by a minute of silence in honour of the late Kym Slade (Loganholme Police Station)
3.       Acknowledgement / Welcome to Country
4.       Speech by Triccy, leader of TPR
5.       Speech by John Urane from Free Assange
6.       March through the CBD
7.       Return for additional speakers including Graeme Hood (ex Qantas pilot), Kara Thomas (Australian Medical Professionals’ Society) and Jason Miles.

Media are welcome to contact TPR leader Triccy on [redacted].  If he is unable to answer the call, please send a text message including which media organisation you are from, and we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible. (We are all volunteers with day jobs.)

 

Notes for editors:

Despite the government ‘fact sheet’ saying it “includes strong protections for privacy and freedom of speech,” TPR’s submission points out “Although the Bill includes Section 60 which acknowledges a protection of the implied right of political communication, the rulings in the High Court on this topic have made it clear that this is not a personal right to free speech.”  The Bill is a danger to all Australians.

Whilst it may appear that existing recognised media entities will not be subject to this as “professional news content” is given the category of “excluded content for misinformation purposes,” the Bill can still have unintended consequences such as whistle-blowers not feeling safe to come forward with something that contradicts the government spin, and thus affect the discovery of future high impact stories. 

If passed as legislation, it can always be later amended to deal with errant news services who break stories that embarrass the government.  The Facebook news ban of February 2021 shows us all that the loss of social media presences has a significant impact on traffic as our own web presences themselves are not enough.  All media are ultimately vulnerable.

A copy of TPR’s submission is available at here.

 

For TV news editors:

We will have a broadcast quality camera there to film the speech content by Triccy and John Urane and some b-roll shots, with footage available early afternoon.  Please advise This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in advance if you would like access to this.  (Always best to have your own crew there if you have someone in the city, but we’ll do what we can to make this work.)

Thank you all for your support and attendance in this vital democratic function.

END