plebdownunder ∞/21m

I am already verified. It's how I got my blue tick. I have my face and name in my profile. X has just noticed that I need to verify that I am over 16. This is just the beginning of a very, very bad period in Australia's history. I am now certain they are coming for our speech. They want a singular narrative, with photo ops on the lawn of Kirribilli house. The government and the opposition on a unity ticket. A one way ticket to authoritarian hell. No Albanese, no Anika Wells, and definitely not Julie Inman Grant. I don't like you, I don't trust you, and I refuse to follow you. Australia is a democracy, and I have an implied right to free political speech. This is what I choose to say: Anthony Albanese, Anika Wells and Julie Inman Grant, I am not a child. I pay too much tax, and you all waste it. I do not consent to being governed by you. We did not vote for this, and it was never on the ballot, because you rammed it through parliament at the end of last year. There is no mandate for this and as such you have just lost your moral authority to govern us. Call an election. I just want Australia back.

In Australia, nobody can hear you scream! December 10 is just 29 days away. The day the under-16 Age ban will become the law. It will be illegal for all people under the age of sixteen in Australia to access social media. The government will not fine or charge the children who get around the rules; they will not be jailing children for a cheeky snapchat. Their parents will not suffer any consequences either. Because the government is pushing the burden of compliance on to the technology companies. The fines are gigantic - $50 million per breach. Which could very quickly add up to not being worth operating in Australia at all. That is unless the tech-giants can force compliance. The only way to be sure under-16’s are not accessing social media, is to check the identity of every person entering their site from Australia. There are indeed ways around this for the more adventurous and technologically savvy, but the reality is, the internet will go from a free and open place, where you can just get on social media or use other websites, to a place where you will have to provide your papers to get entry. Like a city nightclub with those silly driver's license toaster machines, which take a snapshot of your license and your identity on entry. Smile. The worst part is that not only will you have to identify yourself and verify your age to get onto social media, but a raft of sites as determined by the eSafety Commissioner. A worrying thought. The eSafety Commissioner can change the list of sites at any time, like a game of keepy-uppy-balloon. The eSafety Commission can do whatever it wants really. So, our digital freedom is now completely in the hands of an overzealous bureaucracy, one that has already lost court cases for their heavy-handed restrictions of online content. Worse still... Many of us are growing increasingly concerned about the power that the Australian government has been misusing. A freezing wind has been brewing and running through the nation. Everyday more of us are feeling the chill, as journalists, heads of institutions and corporations are forced to cower at the feet of Albanese and his merry ministers. This new way is not in the spirit of liberal democracy, or even social democracy for that matter… People, important and powerful people have lost the art of questioning authority. The art of thinking is fast on its heels. As we sink deeper into the pit of government narratives. Dishonest and disappointing narratives that few of us really believe anymore, including those selling them. It would seem there might be cause for hope. A new organisation has materialised to speak truth to power - the Digital Freedom Project. Its stated purpose is to fight for the rights of those under 16 to engage in their implied right to free political speech, and to protect the rest of us from the need to identify ourselves and our age to get online and speak our minds. They will be taking the new laws (and their gross overreach into our private and public digital lives) to the High Court of Australia. I really hope they win. Because without free speech, and unrestricted access to the technology of mass communication, we are going to enter a new dark age. A place where nobody can hear you scream. I just want Australia back.