Faced with the power of global digital companies, the Federal Government appears to have lost its cojones. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and a host of other Coalition MPs and Senators have waxed voluble about the need to crack down on the likes of Facebook, Google and Twitter, but when it comes to action, they are all like wilting willows.

A year after it bent over backwards and voted to make the government's encryption bill law, the Australian Labor Party is attempting to paint itself as some kind of virtuous entity by introducing a bill to bring about amendments to that same law.