Combating Misinformation Act 2022 (NSW)

... Section 3 The purpose of this Act is to improve the quality of public debate on political and scientific matters.

Section 4 It is an offence to knowingly make false claims about political or scientific matters. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units

Stephen is a member of a secret Facebook group named 'Government conspiracies uncovered'. It has 1000 members. On 3 October 2022, he posts a link to an article with the headline: 'Global warming debunked: Government-run heat shields heating the atmosphere discovered'.

Under Facebook's new 'fact checker' feature, posts with links published on any group pages with more than 100 members are automatically fact checked.

Where disinformation is detected, a dialogue box appears explaining that the link contains false claims. Posters must check a box stating 'I want to post this anyway' in order to post such links.

Later in the week, Stephen has separate conversations over dinner with two groups of friends where he repeats these claims.

He is charged with breaching s 4 on three separate occasions.

In introducing the Bill, Minister Sameera Rabbani said in her second reading speech: 'Over the last few years, the scourge of misinformation has infected our political and public discourse. Fringe elements like QAnon have concocted lies and sowed mistrust in our public institutions and the scientific community. This has sown deep divisions in our community.

With the loss of trust in our institutions, bringing people together and building consensus is becoming increasingly difficult. Our digital platform providers have come to the table, developing technological solutions to try and weed out the problem.

Yet, it remains prevalent. It is time to 3 punish those who knowingly spread lies and destroy public trust. We, as a community, deserve public debate and discourse that we can trust. We should be able to trust what we read and see. We should be able to form opinions based on accurate and truthful facts and data. My government is committed to building a well-informed, deliberative community.'

Answer the following questions: (a) How does statutory interpretation reflect foundational concepts covered in Module 1 of this subject?

(b) In order to determine whether Stephen is guilty on all three occasions of an offence under the Combating Misinformation Act 2022 (NSW), a Court must decide whether s 4 applies to all claims about political and scientific matters that are knowingly false, or only those made in public settings. What role does the Minister's second reading speech play in determining the meaning of s 4? How does this relate to parliamentary intention?

(c) Is the principle of legality engaged by section 4? Provide reasons for your answer