21st Aug 2024, 10:47 AM – Senate Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Bill 2024 - Second Reading - Ban political deepfakes

The majority voted against a second reading amendment introduced by NSW Senator David Shoebridge (Greens), which means it failed. This amendment would have added the words below to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill).

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) deepfakes present serious risks to democracy including through the spread of misinformation, and misleading and deceiving voters,

(ii) the next federal election will likely see the proliferation of political deepfakes, with authorities including the AEC currently not having powers to remove these or penalise those involved,

(iii) jurisdictions overseas have begun to grapple with the challenge posed by political deepfakes including South Korea where the National Assembly prohibited AI-generated deepfake content in political campaigning within 90 days of their April 2024 election,

(iv) deepfakes of Australian politicians have already been created and circulated; and

(b) calls on the Government to work across Parliament to ban political deepfakes in the pre-election period leading up to the next federal election with an exemption for clearly labelled deepfakes used for parody, satire, criticism, news reporting or legal proceedings".