This is a variation on the speech I gave over the weekend in Sydney at the One Nation rally against Digital ID. The rally was led by Craig Kelly, who gave a rousing defence of freedom and democracy. He was joined by Libertarian John Ruddick, former co-host of Outsiders Ross Cameron, and Billboard Chris (among others).
Despite it being unusually cold and wet (what happened to global boiling?), and with the last survivors of the half-marathon limping around behind us, we had a sizeable crowd come out to oppose the Digital ID Bill.
Australians are uniting AGAINST Digital ID | This is about #Privacy. This is about #Liberty
———–"Digital ID is about privacy from your government.
Liberty and privacy are brothers.
They are siblings of the Enlightenment.
But the grand philosophers and politicians… pic.twitter.com/EKjtBkp9j7
— Alexandra Marshall (@ellymelly) May 5, 2024
After raising a few ‘Hell Yeahs!’ for Liberty, it is a relief to hear a bit of enthusiasm for the cornerstone of Western Enlightenment.
Making noise is exactly what we are here to do.
The Australian government has behaved disgracefully.
They have pushed through the Digital ID Bill without so much as a debate.
This government. This Labor government. This Albanese government. They had a whole referendum about ‘Voices’, but not your voice.
Everyone standing here today and reading this article – Albanese doesn’t want to hear your voice. Voices of convenience … that is what the government prefers. Voices that have been quietened and pruned by fact-checkers and censors.
Lately, I have been struck by this terrible feeling that we are standing on the edge of a cliff.
Leaning down.
And looking at our future.
I can feel the pull of gravity – and hear the sound of all the people stampeding toward us like sheep – about to push us off into the abyss. Those who follow blindly are dangerous. They rush at oblivion like lemmings believing that safety in numbers will pad their landing or that the consensus of the crowd can overcome the laws of gravity.
And what awaits us down there at the bottom of the cliff?
It is a digital dystopia.
Oh, it’s coming. As the modern world becomes a wholly digital world, controlling citizen identity is the wet dream of every petty tyrant. Digital ID is the key to unlocking a Chinese-style social credit system.
And listen, I’m all in favour of passive IDs. I would love it if the government got off their arses and sorted out their computer systems. I can tell you, as someone who used to design databases for a living, the government has gotten itself into a real mess. It’s like talking to the digital Stone Age.
Just what you don’t want. Incompetence and malevolence! And there is something malevolent about this Digital ID Bill.
I’m convinced that the only reason hackers in North Korea aren’t stealing Australian data from the government right now is because our systems are so old – so ancient – that the hackers can’t even talk to them.
But in all this madness, you have to laugh at the government’s pitch.
The Finance Department and the ministers who drafted the bill … here’s how they’re selling it to you.
Ms Gallagher says words to the effect of… ‘Do you absolutely hate the current government database? Is myGov a nightmare to deal with? Is everything broken and crap? Well, don’t worry! If you give us more data and more power and more control – we promise to do better.’
That’s it. That’s the ad campaign.
The Editor-in-Chief at The Spectator Australia, the great Rowan Dean, is an ad man and I can’t imagine him signing off on that.
Let’s not forget, the grand dream of Digital ID is coming from the same people who say, ‘Oh how dare you ask for an ID to vote. That’s racist!’
It’s racist to check your ID when protecting democracy, but dangerous not to have your ID for every other part of your life.
That’s the pitch. The incoherent nonsense of bureaucracy.
When I interviewed Augusto Zimmermann on Spectator TV, he reminded me that: ‘The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.’
To which I replied… ‘The price of Liberty is $44 billion US.’ Which is what Elon Musk paid to purchase Twitter, much to the horror of our e-Safety Commissioner.
"The price of #liberty is eternal vigilance." – Augusto Zimmermann.
"The price of #liberty is $44 billion US according to @elonmusk…" – Alexandra
——————-
The whole idea is to impose a certain agenda and to silence anyone who uses their brain to read between the… pic.twitter.com/aj6mN1Fkos
— Alexandra Marshall (@ellymelly) April 30, 2024
Augusto was quoting Thomas Jefferson, who was paraphrasing a general belief that had been circulating for hundreds of years.
There are many great quotes about Liberty.
And there have been many hours spent thinking about the pros and cons of civil freedom.
I’m sure you have all heard Benjamin Franklin’s warning about not surrendering essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety.
He was right.
Safety is the weaponised word used by government to justify all of their bad ideas.
Online censorship is about ‘safety’.
Cash bans are about ‘safety’.
Net Zero is about ‘safety’.
Vaccine passports were about ‘safety’.
Digital ID is about ‘safety’.
All the worst pieces of legislation in Parliament have been sponsored by ‘safety’ and your fear.
They leave out the last bit though. Safety for whom…? Safety for the politicians. Not for you.
Politicians: Labor, Liberal, the Greens, the Teals… They want to be ‘safe’ because they are unpopular. The politicians are afraid. Afraid of what you will say.
But today’s rally is not about safety or liberty.
Digital ID is about privacy.
Privacy from the government.
Privacy from the pencil-pushers in Canberra.
Privacy from the busy-body control freaks who call themselves ‘ministers’.
Privacy from that e-Safety Commissioner – the Stasi of Social media – who wants to tell you what you can read and see online.
That’s what this rally is about. Yes, it says ‘Digital ID’ on the banner, but the fight against Digital ID is the fight for privacy.
Liberty and Privacy are brothers.
They are siblings of the Enlightenment.
The grand philosophers and politicians of Western Civilisation did not spend their time debating privacy because never – in the history of human civilisation – has the government possessed the tools to stalk our every thought, transaction, and activity.
The fight for privacy is our fight.
This generation.
Yours.
We are the ones who must stand against our government and say ‘No!’
Enough is enough.
This Digital ID is the biggest infringement on privacy in Australia’s history.
It’s one thing for the bank to verify your ID when you buy something online. It’s one thing for Amazon to accept that bank ID before handing over goods. It’s a completely different story for the government to put itself in the middle of capitalism and the free market.
To act as our chaperone.
We are adults. We don’t need or what a government nanny.
I used to work in retail. I designed AI databases to manage stock.
We stuck barcodes on all our products.
And that is how the government sees you. Labor and Liberal are united on this. They want citizens to be their products instead of their master.
Digital ID is a barcode.
If you don’t want to be a product put up for sale by the government, vote them out of power!
Vote for One Nation instead!
Digital ID is not going to be voluntary.
Already, our state governments, including NSW, have moved to make Digital ID their primary form of identification if you want to access government services.
The banks have come out in full support for Digital ID. How long before you can’t get a home loan without a Digital ID? How long before you need a Digital ID to rent a house? You might not be ‘forced’ to use Digital ID, but you will be shoved to the bottom of the list. Australia Post – they are in full support of Digital ID.
The Banks, they say this is the first line of defence against hacking.
Did any of you see the government offer proof that their Digital ID database can’t be hacked?
Did the Department of Finance issue you with a personal guarantee that your identity is safe?
Digital ID means that instead of getting some information, hackers will get all your information.
If Digital ID is everywhere, as the Department of Finance promises, then you lose everything when something goes wrong.
If it’s hacked. If your details are stolen. If the servers have a meltdown. If there’s a blackout thanks to Bowen and his wind turbines. If anything goes wrong, Australia grinds to a halt.
That’s what happens when you centralise data. You centralise problems. You maximise risk.
This all comes down to trust.
Your trust, in the government.
Do you trust Albanese with your credit card details?
Do you trust Gallagher with your passport and driver’s licence?
Would you give your Twitter password – your Facebook password – to the e-Safety Commissioner???
Do you trust Bowen to keep the lights on…?
Would you trust Jim ‘I’d like to re-imagine capitalism’ Chalmers to do your accounts?
The government wants you to believe that privacy is suspicious.
That people who want privacy are doing something wrong.
Well, we are not doing something wrong, Mr Albanese, the government is.
We want privacy from the government because we don’t trust you.
And we don’t trust this ‘trusted’ Digital ID Bill.
As the great and wonderful One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts says: ‘This Bill is written to be misused.’
Alexandra Marshall is an independent writer. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
