Former Chief of the Australian Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie (Retd) is calling for legislation to regulate, and potentially break up, major digital technology platforms, arguing their market power is enabling climate-related disinformation that undermines Australia’s security and democratic resilience.
Barrie, a member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG), is scheduled to speak at the launch of an ASLCG report titled “The climate disinformation war: How to fight back for Australia’s democracy and security”.
The intervention comes ahead of the Federal Parliament’s Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy releasing its final report, amid growing policy attention on how false or misleading information affects public debate and decision-making on climate and energy.
“There has been a failure to understand how energy dependence on fossil fuels will cause both economic disruption and more perilous physical conditions for Australians,” Barrie said in the release. “Now the two issues are colliding.”
Barrie argued that energy insecurity and climate disinformation are reinforcing risks, describing what he called an “information war” that is “actively undermining the capacity to build a renewable, clean-energy future and curb coal and gas exports.”
Report author and intelligence analyst Anastasia Kapetas said the spread of disinformation represents a direct threat to democracy, and warned the increasing use of artificial intelligence could amplify the scale and speed of misleading content.
“This is no longer just a communications issue. It is a national security threat with consequences for Australia’s sovereignty, economic resilience, disaster preparedness, institutional trust and strategic autonomy,” Kapetas said.
The ASLCG report proposes a suite of policy responses, including competition measures modelled on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act to limit the market power of large platforms; stronger regulation of digital platforms, social media and AI with emphasis on liability, user control and transparency; and enforceable rules for generative AI to address synthetic and automated disinformation.
The report launch is set to be held at Parliament House in Canberra, with Barrie, retired Army Colonel Neil Greet, and Kapetas listed as speakers.
You can read the full report here.
