Why TV legend Jana Wendt’s son wants WeChat banned in Australia

A high-performing lawyer who has advised two prime ministers is calling on the federal government to ban China’s messaging app WeChat for spreading Communist Party propaganda.

Daniel Ward, the son of former A Current Affair host and 60 Minutes reporter Jana Wendt, said WeChat was a major threat, while Labor wanted instead to crack down on Facebook and Twitter for publishing “misinformation and disinformation”.

“Why not ban WeChat instead, which allows the Chinese Communist Party to spew misinformation directly into a worrying number of Australian households?” he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Ward, who was general adviser to former Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a senior adviser to his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull, has spoken out after a Senate committee investigating foreign interference online recommended a WeChat ban.

TikTok, a video-sharing platform, is already banned from use on government devices for cybersecurity reasons, but the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media wants that ban extended to WeChat.

“The committee recommends… extending to WeChat the protective security policy framework guideline that prohibits TikTok on federal government devices, as it poses similar data security and foreign interference risks,” it said.

Mr Ward, who was general adviser to former Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a senior adviser to his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull, spoke out a day after the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media recommended a WeChat ban in Australia

Liberal Senator James Paterson, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said WeChat posed a risk to individual users.

“The government has banned TikTok from all government user devices and so the committee recommended that WeChat be banned as it poses such a serious risk to those users,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Senator Paterson said the Chinese Communist Party spied on journalists and academics through apps like TikTok and WeChat.

“So I would really urge Australians to think really hard about whether or not to use these apps, whether or not there are better and safer alternatives for you,” he said.

But Greens members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sarah Hanson-Young and David Shoebridge, argued against banning WeChat on government devices.

“Banning TikTok or any other unique platform from government devices is nothing but a digital game of whack and does nothing to protect Australians,” they told Labor and Liberal senators in a dissenting opinion.

“Bad actors will use their vast resources by whatever means necessary to achieve their objectives and until we address the root causes, Australians will continue to be subject to threats of foreign interference.”

This is despite the parliamentary committee, set up in November 2022, noting that WeChat despised her.

“WeChat showed its contempt for parliament by not appearing before the committee at all and by dishonest written answers to questions,” the report said.

“This was in contrast to the more constructive involvement of platforms in Western countries that at least recognized the fundamental importance of the checks and balances inherent in democratic systems.”

TikTok, a video-sharing platform, is already banned for use on government devices for security reasons, but this Senate committee wants that ban extended to WeChat

WeChat’s owner, Tencent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee it had fewer than 500,000 active users in Australia, up from 690,000 in 2020 — without explaining why.

The Senate Judiciary Committee report expressed concern that WeChat is influencing Chinese-language media in Australia and using its reach to “harass Australian diaspora communities,” adding that it would “undermine societal trust, spread social divisions and distort decision-making.” influence through disinformation campaigns’.

Senator Paterson, a member of a bipartisan China-focused parliamentary group called the Wolverines, said users of TikTok and WeChat should be careful.

“There’s no restriction you can put in place to make sure our data will be safe in these apps because they collect so much data and there’s no way it can’t be accessed in China,” he said. “So we all run that risk.”

While both sides of the political spectrum are concerned about Chinese espionage, Labor this year instead introduced a bill giving the Australian Communications and Media Authority the power to force US social media giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, to remove posts deemed inaccurate. are considered.

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 was introduced to Parliament in July, in response to a 2021 report from ACMA calling for a crackdown on misinformation, including from anti-vaxxers.

The opposition has announced that it will vote against this bill.

Liberal Senator James Paterson, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said WeChat posed a risk to individual users

But Senate Judiciary Greens members Sarah Hanson-Young (pictured) and David Shoebridge argued against banning WeChat on government devices

Liberal Party communications spokesman David Coleman, a former media director, said it has given ACMA “extraordinary powers”.

This is a very bad bill. The government should tear it up,” he said.

“It would lead digital companies to self-censor Australians’ legitimate views to avoid the risk of huge fines.”

Mr Ward, who is now a lawyer at Sixth Floor Selborne Wentworth Chambers in Sydney, was previously a visiting fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

He provided policy advice to former Liberal Attorney General George Brandis in 2017 that enabled same-sex marriage voting by mail, and later co-founded Chapel Lane Advisory, a public policy firm.

He was called to the Bar in 2021, having obtained a Distinction from the University of Oxford and University Medals in Law and Art from the University of Sydney.