Liberal MP Craig Kelly, Nationals MP George Christensen and former resources minister Matthew Canavan have called for the end of the Australian Communications and Media authority following its recent rulings against former radio host Alan Jones.
The backbench government MPs voiced their concerns about the media watchdog’s power with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday.
Jones signed off from a 35 year radio career at the end of May, but not before being sanctioned by ACMA and ordered to issue an on-air correction after it found the announcer violated broadcasting rules citing inaccurate climate change data.
At the meeting, MP Kelly said he wanted the laws governing ACMA to be changed so it no longer held the power of being the “arbiter of truth”.
“To have a government authority going through the brackets, commas and inverted commas of someone’s speech and deeming whether it’s right or not is absurd,” he told The Australian.
“Under the legislation, ACMA are the arbiters of truth on contested political matters and I believe that is a power they shouldn’t have.”
Canavan added: “The only speech that needs to be regulated is that which defames or incites violence, and we have the police and the courts to deal with that.”
