On Dangerous Ground

The Coalition are tearing themselves to shreds over censoring the internet.

Of course, they don't publicly admit to that, but it is now proving to be a test of leadership.

We need to remind ourselves that the Coalition first proposed the Misinformation and Disinformation (MAD) Bill while they were in government.

It's still a Coalition policy even though they pledged to oppose Labor's similar policy on technical grounds, which was exactly what we had predicted some weeks ago.

So, while it's great that the government has abandoned the MAD Bill, it is struggling to deal with another Internet licence proposal from the Labor Party.

The SMH reports that a planned special Coalition Party Room meeting has now been abandoned:

"On Friday, Coalition MPs were called to a Monday morning gathering in Canberra where Dutton planned to field questions about Labor’s proposed law to ban children under 16 from platforms such as TikTok and Instagram...

'But doubts about the bill have expanded from the pair (Antic and Canavan) to more mainstream Coalition MPs, setting up the meeting as a test of the opposition leader’s authority...

'On Sunday night, the MPs were informed Monday’s meeting was cancelled, with the conversation to take place on Tuesday as part of the Coalition’s party room meeting. The Coalition leadership remains confident of overwhelming support for the bill inside the party.'

Based on my experience, here's how we can decode this recent move.