Online Safety and Other Legislation Amendment (My Face, My Rights) Bill 2025

Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of One Nation) (09:35): Well, One Nation will not be supporting this Online Safety and Other Legislation Amendment (My Face, My Rights) Bill, but I do appreciate Senator David Pocock coming up and having a discussion with me about it. The bill allows a person to complain to the eSafety Commissioner about their face being used as a deepfake without their permission.

The definition of 'deepfake' is so broad that it could capture many things, including our Please Explain cartoons. This is a lawyers' picnic and that concerns me greatly. The cartoons, yes, they depict many of our political people in this place.

They've been going for four years and are well received by the Australian public. I think they've learnt more about politics watching our cartoons. It would devastate so many people if this piece of legislation was to capture and get rid of our cartoons, which I think are more informative to the public than what would be warranted with this bill.

Senator Watt, who's comments I hardly ever agree with, is right. It is already there in legislation that the eSafety Commissioner can act on this. The commissioner can issue takedown notices, but she can already do that and she's doing it, so we already have these laws in place.

The existing powers of the commissioner allow deepfake material to be taken down if it's abusive. Now, it's not protecting people from abuse but there is a strong potential for the bill to stop legitimate satire. Oh, come on, guys, you know, toughen up.

Let's get some political hide about us in this place. If anyone were to complain about satire, after what I've had to deal with over the years, I'd be the first one supporting this bill because nearly 30 years I've been attacked with so much. At the moment, I could complain because they've got me out there as Wonder Woman.

My God, they've got me out there with all this deepfake as a band leader singing in a band. I've got to put up with all this going on. I'm not complaining about it.

I've toughened up over the years. So let's toughen up. Let's get some political hide about us, shall we?

Look, I will acknowledge that deepfakes are a problem and that kids are putting up teachers' heads on porn stars' bodies, but the eSafety Commissioner already has powers to take them down, so it's just ridiculous. This whole bill is about a carve-out for journalists. Why should journalists be carved out?

Are journalists' cartoons also carved out? Now, some of those cartoons can be very offensive. Are they carved out?

Why are journalists and agencies of state and territory authorities carved out? Why are they carved out? Why would they need to be carved out for deepfake?

Also, law enforcement bodies—what on earth would they be doing to warrant carving them out for deepfake? Also, intelligence agencies—why would they be carved out? You've got to ask yourself these questions.

This is a poorly drafted bill with no real understanding. It is going to be a lawyers' picnic. There's no carve-out for satire, yet satire has been a legitimate and widely accepted tool for political commentary for centuries, for a long time.

This is the problem with a lot of legislation; laws should not be in subjective language. Language in legislation should be objective and definitive. The High Court has ruled on the implied right of political communication, so that's what's happening.

Senator Hanson-Young: Where's the Russian money? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Ciccone ): Order! Senator HANSON: Senator Hanson-Young has made reference to foreign interference.

The thing is that Senator Hanson-Young and the Greens would dearly love to have the social media that I have. They probably know I have over a million viewers, who are organic, on my Facebook page alone—over a million followers. They'd dearly love to have that.

What's happening is that foreigners are actually piggybacking on our social accounts and on our followers. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, on a point of order? Senator Hanson-Young: Just on a matter of clarification, I think Senator Hanson— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Is there a point of order?

Senator Hanson-Young: meant that foreigners are funding her. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, you know that you have to raise a point of order. There is no point of order.

I remind everyone to refrain from interjections and to make comments through the chair. Senator HANSON: Through the chair: it's another false statement. That's all they've got.

All the Greens have got are comments they constantly throw across the chamber which are so untrue. Senator Hanson-Young interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young! Senator HANSON: It's just farcical.

They are so concerned about One Nation and the rise in the polls that we have that they're throwing out there all these lines with no basis to them whatsoever. Honourable senators interjecting— Senator HANSON: Anyway, it's a joke. It really is a joke.

Oh, my God, you're so— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, senators! We all appreciate everyone's having an opportunity to have a say, and I understand there will be a few others, but we are also entitled to be heard in silence. Senator Hanson, please continue.

Senator HANSON: Thank you. These false allegations that you're making in this chamber—this happens all the time. Like I said, I've built up a political rawhide over the years, so, like they say, it's like water off a duck's back.

They wouldn't want to say it outside this chamber. They haven't got the guts to say it outside, but they'll throw these false allegations at me across the chamber. But that's the Greens for you.

I think they're very concerned. You'll get over it. If you actually do get the support from the public, maybe you'll get over a million followers on your Facebook page.

You only wish to have the followers that I have. Honourable senators interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, order! Order, senators, please!

We understand everyone's passionate about the bill before us, but we have limited time. Senator HANSON: Senator Mulholland spoke about the impact it's going to have on getting women into parliament, with all these deepfakes. I don't know if that's the case at all.

Do you know what? You don't need to be on a Facebook page or on social media and that type of thing to get attacked, because all you've got to do is get attacked in this parliament. More attacks happen on the floor of this parliament, across this chamber—the false allegations, the comments that are made, the accusations and the words that are used in this chamber.

This is where it starts. This is where it starts—here. Don't worry about social media.

This is what I've had to put up with for a long, long time. I get it from numerous senators around this place. That's what needs to change.

So don't say that, using social media, women won't want to get into politics. They watch what goes on on the floor of parliament—the allegations that are made in this place. Senator Hanson-Young: What was that phrase—'Suck it up, sweetheart'?

Senator HANSON: Through you, Chair, I have really sucked up a lot over the years that a lot of other people in this place couldn't. They wouldn't have the backbone to be able to do it. I know what it's like to suck it up.

I do. Look, I understand; she's hurt. She's feeling upset about the rise of One Nation in the polls.

That's understandable. It's up to the Australian people. There's still a year and a half.

You can still get your act together and get rid of climate change, get rid of all the BS—the cost of living to everyone. Get rid of your policy to open up the floodgates for a lot more immigration into the country and all the refugees you want to flood the country with, for all the foreign aid that you want to give away overseas and for the destruction of our environment to put in wind turbines which are destroying our countryside.

What is happening in this country is just unbelievable. But let's get back to the bill that Senator Pocock introduced, and I do appreciate him having a talk to me. He said it would not include satire, because it's not mentioned here; it's been carved out.

I don't believe it has. It hasn't been shown to me that it is carved out. Senator Hanson-Young: You're not worried about satire; you're worried about Vietnam— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Hanson-Young!

Your interjections are disorderly. Senator HANSON: Anyway, the fact is that we've brought in hate-speech laws and we're shutting down people. I tried to put freedom of speech in our constitution.

I moved a motion in the parliament to have it put, by referendum, to the people. That was stopped; no-one wanted that. You voted against that.

You're controlling people more and more with your laws and legislation, and people are frightened to say or do anything whatsoever. We are not building resilience; we're protecting everyone. We're putting them in cottonwool. 'You can't do this; you can't say that.' That's the problem with a lot of these kids: they have built up no resilience whatsoever.

We have to get back to the larrikinism that we had in Australia. We used to have Paul Hogan, Bert Newton and Norman Gunston. We could actually have a laugh at ourselves with the things that were on TV.

That's all gone because you're offending someone, and this is another form of shutting people down. Yes, if it is offensive, it can be taken down. We do have the laws, and I don't believe in anything being put up that's going to create violence.

I think that's wrong. But we've got to realise who we are. People aren't stupid out there.

Give them some credit to actually look at this and understand. They know I'm not this leader of a bloody band singing a song on a stage. People can work a lot out for themselves.

So stop shutting people down, because that's what I see happening in this parliament all the time. Let people have an opinion and have a say. The same as you nearly did in this parliament by bringing the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024—that's what you want it to do.

Again, you can't control the people. People must have a right to work it out for themselves. You can't put them in cottonwool and baby them.

That's what democracy is about. It's about freedom of choice. It's about rule of law.

It's not about parliaments controlling them, and if we keep going down the way that we're going—we are becoming such a socialist country. That's where we're headed, and that's not what the people want. People want their freedom: freedom of expression, freedom of choice.

Let's get back to the Australia that we used to have. I know damn well people would be a lot happier in their own life—without being controlled. Senator Hanson-Young: What about women's freedom to choose?

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young! I'm getting my vocal cords working this morning. Senator Shoebridge, you now have the call, and I hope you're heard in silence as well.