QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator BELL (New South Wales—One Nation Whip) (15:00): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Communications, Senator Farrell. At the National Press Club today, Minister Wells insisted Labor's new digital duty of care bill would not be used for surveillance to restrict free speech or target political opinions. When challenged on whether the legislation would enable censorship and propaganda, she declared it cannot, yet Labor's own legislation gives the eSafety Commissioner power to create sock puppet social media accounts to observe, download and record online materials.

Minister, if those powers cannot be used for surveillance or political censorship, why hasn't Labor explicitly prohibited those uses in the legislation?