This Wednesday at the Ellen Melville Centre, Rob Campbell CNZM, Chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology, sits down with Free Speech Union board member Ani O’Brien to discuss whether New Zealanders holding public appointments are still permitted political opinions. Campbell lost two chairmanships over a LinkedIn post. The subject of the evening is who gets told to stay quiet.
So this public forum (one of a series being done around NZ by the FSU using Ani) is on a very interesting topic. Rob Campbell was removed as Chair of HealthNZ due to his columns attacking the then National opposition. So this discussion is actually giving a voice to a long-term left activist (Campbell) by having a discussion about whether those with public appointments should be allowed to publish their political opinions.
But left wing Auckland Councillor Julie Fairey is trying to have it cancelled.
Auckland Councillor Julie Fairey, who chairs the council’s Community Committee, has emailed council staff to query the booking. She says the venue is a Proud Centre and suggests the event may be incompatible with it. She describes the Free Speech Union as bad faith actors. Members of the public have been encouraged to write to the centre demanding cancellation.
“We could not have arranged a better illustration,” says Jillaine Heather, Executive Director of the Free Speech Union. “Wednesday’s conversation asks who decides which views may be aired inside public institutions. A councillor has stepped forward to answer.”
Fairey is trying to have it cancelled on the basis that the venue is a “safe space for our queer community”. And here is the irony. Ani O’Brien is a lesbian, and I assume Fairey is not as she is married to former Labour MP Michael Wood. So Fairey is trying to get this event closed down because O’Brien is the wrong sort of lesbian. She doesn’t share Fairey’s left wing views. Her crime is she (like most NZers) has views on gender issues that are not left-wing. They use the same logic with Maori – Karen Chhour is the wrong sort of Maori, because she its not left wing.
Julie Fairey sees her role as a Councillor to try and prevent people with non-left views from being able to use ratepayer owned facilities.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
6 comments:
“Her crime is she (like most NZers) has views on gender issues that are not left-wing.” Err - that’s not quite the picture though, is it, David?
Nothing wrong with keeping public spaces safe. Ani has a long history of anti-trans rhetoric. The FSU is an obvious political wedge faction with deep ties to the National party. And besides, they don’t even represent Free Speech these days. There is some bad juju here and thank god we have a councillor willing to take a stand.
Wow, great reporting David.
Its an easy fix. Next time the far left want to protest and support their ideological warped regimes, the govt also needs to cancel it. For the very same reason the far left keep rolling out: We need our community safe from these far left terrorist supporting lunatics - the left.
It can work both ways.
anon @ July 30, 2026 at 5:56 AM.
Simon Wilson is a member and regular commentator in support of the FSU.
It spans political divides. Clearly you don't.
anon @ July 30, 2026 at 5:56 AM. "safe" is another word for free of open discussion that challenges people. If alternatives are not presented what you get is stagnation, not safety. Their real purpose of "safe spaces" is to convince young minds that it is traumatic when politics don’t go Left and then to “structure the environment to resolve that [trauma] productively” for Woke causes.
Anon @ 5:56: your ideology is showing mate. I read Ani' writings a lot and there is absolutely no "anti-trans" message there. She's a lesbian feminist who holds the view that women and girls need to be protected from predatory men who pretend to be women, and she's in favor of safe spaces for biological women who have been assulted by violent/abusive male partners. For these women, to be in places of refuge where biological men with penises pretending to be women are allowed is traumatic. This b.s. about "safe public spaces" is nonsense. Safe for who????Only those you happen to favor?
Go easy on the leftie @ 5.56. They/them forgot to take their puberty blockers today. they/them's are feeling very unsafe despite posting utter garbage as 'anon'. They/them cant handle reality unless it fully agrees with they/them. They/them have a massive metal hurdle to overcome. Now, they/them are off to a protest, they/them are not sure what the protest is actually about, but thats what the left do.
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