PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION

Senator ANANDA-RAJAH (Victoria) (18:45): Colleagues, I had the great privilege of collaborating with Pete on the Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy. Pete, I regard this as a seminal piece of work—as groundbreaking work which I think has opened the door for a really rich vein of inquiry which will now branch out from the work we did.

I can't tell you all what this work was like for us. We were in the trenches. I felt at times that we were under attack, and it was like you and me against the world.

I felt, sitting next to you as a newbie, really unfamiliar with the processes of the Senate and, frankly, the powers of the Senate. I was unfamiliar. This was uncharted territory for me, but you were a steadying influence.

You had my back at times when I was faced with some pretty unsavoury commentary. I was going to say 'unsavoury characters', but let's not attack the man. Play the ball, not the man, right?

I will say 'unsavoury commentary'. You had my back, and you called that stuff out publicly. Frankly, some of that stuff was misogyny.

It was, and it was directed at me, which was something unfamiliar to me, because I came from medicine. I didn't really deal with that stuff. To have to deal with this in a public forum was confronting, but you stood up against that stuff, and I will forever be grateful.

But the work itself was incredible. We pulled back the veil on what you and I—and now, I think, a lot of other people in the commentariat—call the denial machine. We never found a smoking gun, but we certainly mapped out the actors and we showed how this network effectively operates and who the key players are.

We identified some of their backers—absolutely fossil fuel interests—but we also revealed the vector, and that is the social media platforms. We revealed the technical and financial architecture that allows this stuff to be propagated and amplified and then to divide and sow doubt. You're absolutely right: we are in a polluted information environment and it is information warfare.

It is a frontier where we will either win or end up on our knees. The work that we did on this report, led by you and the strength of your conviction, has meant that it is now being picked up by other committees. It's been picked up by the electoral matters committee, who can see synergies, and it's also been picked up, I think, by the departments and institutions that underpin this place in communications, in the AI Safety Institute that has been stood up and in the climate and energy space.

Certainly I was so proud of this work that I sent this book—I'm such a nerd—to all our key stakeholders. If I were to die tomorrow, I'd die happy because of my children but also this work, and that's because of you, my friend. So go well.

Go strong. You are a warrior. Thank you.