Hi all, especially the Australians, and especially the Australians with experience of submitting documents to inquiries.
The Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy was appointed by resolution of the Senate on 30 July 2025 and I have am planning to make a submission.
I am putting Version 1.0 of my submission (word doc) up to
a) get people’s feedback and improve (shorten!) the submission
b) raise awareness of the Inquiry.
It’s waaay too long, and the academic bibliography will I think have to come out. But what else is wrong with it? What is missing?
The deadline is September 12th, so if you are reading this after September 8th (!), I won’t be able to integrate anything you say, but will still be interested.
The terms of reference of the inquiry
to inquire into and report on:
(a) the prevalence of, motivations behind and impacts of misinformation and disinformation related to climate change and energy;
(b) how misinformation and disinformation related to climate change and energy is financed, produced and disseminated, including, but not limited to, understanding its impact on:
(i) Australian politics,
(ii) domestic and international media narratives, and
(iii) Australian public policy debate and outcomes;
(c) the origins, growth and prevalence of ‘astroturfing’ and its impact on public policy and debate;
(d) connections between Australian organisations and international think tank and influence networks associated with the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation related to matters of public policy;
(e) the role of social media, including the coordinated use of bots and trolls, messaging apps and generative artificial intelligence in facilitating the spread of misinformation and disinformation;
(f) the efficacy of different parliamentary and regulatory approaches in combating misinformation and disinformation, what evidence exists and where further research is required, including through gathering global evidence;
(g) the role that could be played by media literacy education, including in the school curriculum, in combating misinformation and disinformation; and
(h) any other related matters.