The Prime Minister will be hoping incoming US President Donald Trump doesn’t let his bestie Elon Musk sit in on their telephone conversations the way he did when Trump talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Because if Musk does do that, you’d have to assume Trump’s anti-Albo attitude will only solidify. The PM has been even ruder about Musk than Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd has been about Trump.
Back in April, in an interview with the ABC (who else), our PM labelled Musk an ‘arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law’.
Similar insults were hurled at Musk, one of the world’s richest people, by Labor cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek (she called him ‘egotistical’) and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young (a ‘narcissistic cowboy’).
The context for the barrage of insults was Musk challenging attempts to force him to take down graphic posts of a stabbing attack in a Sydney church.
The Australian E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant took the billionaire’s tech firm to court in a bid to force them to delete the widespread images – ultimately withdrawing the action in what really was a humiliating backdown.
The whole saga did more to draw attention to the content on X than otherwise would have been the case. The images of the priest allegedly being stabbed were also easily accessible right across the internet – and in the mainstream media, not just on social media.
Albanese’s government has since looked to amend Federal law to ensure that it has the powers to get its way in such disputes with social media companies in the future.
US President-elect Donald Trump huddles with Elon Musk, on right, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Musk has gotten so close to Trump he’s called himself the ‘first buddy’ to the incoming American leader and Trump has jokingly told House Republicans he ‘can’t get rid of him’
Putting to one side the irony of the PM labelling Musk as someone who arrogantly thinks he’s above the law – when Albo’s government is seeking to amend said laws to achieve their desired outcome – it is hard to escape the conclusion that the PM’s concerns for online safety are selectively applied.
What about existing easy access to graphic online pornography for minors, for example? You don’t hear a peep out of the government when it comes to tackling that issue.
Or tighter online gambling restrictions? The crossbench has become increasingly vocal in its frustration at expectations the Labor government plans to rollover on its previously strong rhetoric on the issue.
So why is Labor fixated on tackling social media giants more so than these other important issues?
Could it be because Albo is looking to pander to Australia’s legacy media businesses that are currently fighting a losing war with social media giants?
It is hard not to think the PM and his strategists see this issue as a perfect way to try and appease important media executives on this issue in a bid to ameliorate broader concerns about the failures of his government.
There is no escaping the poor opinion polls and the growing perception that the first term Labor government has underperformed.
Elon Musk is unlikely to have forgiven, or forgotten, what the Australian Prime Minister has said about him. Mr Albanese will have to hope Musk doesn’t join his calls with Trump – as he did with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
The tough talk about taking on social media giants – continued in Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s speech to the Sydney Institute on Wednesday night – no doubt is also a populist pitch to parents concerned about their children’s online activities.
But as mentioned, the response is selective at best.
Meanwhile, now that Trump has one foot back in the White House and his mate Musk has his ear more than anyone, Albo personalising his attacks is all too clearly yet another misstep by a PM all too prone to them.
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