Centrist: InternetNZ’s free speech crackdown faces setback.....

InternetNZ’s free speech crackdown faces setback as Free Speech Union CEO takes board seat

Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, has been elected to the InternetNZ board following a recent membership vote.

This election comes after a campaign by the Free Speech Union to increase InternetNZ memberships and influence, aiming to restore focus on free speech and democratic governance within the organisation.

Chris Lynch: Free speech row erupts over teacher’s Facebook post on Treaty bill

A complaint over a teacher’s political comments on Facebook has sparked calls for the Teaching Council to throw it out, with ACT Party Education spokesperson Laura McClure labelling the case “vexatious” and a threat to free speech.

DTNZ: Free Speech Union defends teacher under investigation for Facebook comment

A primary school teacher has found herself at the centre of a controversy after expressing her opinion on social media, raising concerns about the balance between free speech and professional conduct.

Chris Lynch: Minister overturns visa ban, allowing Candace Owens entry to New Zealand

Associate Minister of Immigration Chris Penk has reversed Immigration New Zealand’s decision to deny entry to Candace Owens, granting her a special direction under section 17 of the Immigration Act 2009.

The decision has been hailed as a victory for free speech by the Free Speech Union.

DTNZ: Free Speech Union calls on Immigration NZ to allow Candace Owens’ visit

The Free Speech Union (FSU) has urged Immigration New Zealand not to follow Australia’s decision to deny entry to American commentator Candace Owens.

FSU Council Member Dane Giraud criticised Australia’s move, labelling it a “foolish choice” likely to increase attention on Owens and her controversial views.

Ele Ludemann: Otago stands up for free speech

Otago University’s decision to hold a discussion on free speech in private was somewhat ironic.

But the discussion itself had the right outcome with the Free Speech Union calling it gold standard:

Damien Grant: Free speech is about protecting ideas and values

Why did Caroline marry you? It’s the one question left unanswered after I’d finished Toby Young’s delightful 2001 book; How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. So I asked him.

He seemed unsure, recalling how he’d pursued Miss Brody with relentless and often obsessive determination, which I already knew because, well, it’s in the book. Given the publication was about what a drunken fool he’d been, what prompted the young lady to relent?

“Maybe” he finally concluded “Stalking works?” More on that in a moment, but…Toby who?

Karl du Fresne: My experience of censorship and what it tells us about the new culture of journalism

The Free Speech Union held its annual general meeting last weekend in Christchurch. I was part of a panel that discussed free speech and the media. The following were my introductory remarks, which refer to incidents previously covered on this blog.

Two years ago I was invited to write a regular opinion column for the National Business Review, a paper for which I had once worked in the distant past. A contract was signed and I duly submitted my first column.

Adam Young: The Rich, the Marginalised, and the Right to Dissent

When I imagine the exercise of free speech, speaking truth to power and “sticking it to the man”, I don’t think of back-room discussions or big-money lobbying. No, one simply needs to run a google image search of “free speech” to see the symbols of protest: the crowds holding up their placards, the fist raised in dissent. Free speech is not the tool of the elite but the marginalised, who have not money nor power to set the agenda, but simply their voice. Now, a recent study coming out of Victoria University, looking at who appears to value free speech the most and who actually benefits the most, has found just that.

Karl du Fresne: The Free Speech Union meeting that earned a trigger warning from Salient

The latest edition of the Victoria University of Wellington student newspaper Salient contains an account of the recent Free Speech Union event at the university, at which I spoke.

It’s prefaced with a trigger warning advising, in bold type: This article examines some of the racist, transphobic, sexist, and otherwise harmful content discussed at the event in question. Please exercise caution when reading.

My first reaction was that this was written as a satirical comment on the preciousness now rampant in Western universities and the hysterical aversion to any ideas that run counter to woke-think. Alas, no; it was deadly serious. I forgot that this generation of students isn’t noted for its sense of humour.

Don Brash: Free speech - How free should it really be?

A speech prepared for delivery at Massey University, 5 May 2022

Ladies and gentlemen

This was supposed to be the third speech in a series of speeches at New Zealand universities organised by the Free Speech Union. The second was a speech given last Thursday by well-known journalist and long-term editor of the Dominion newspaper Karl du Fresne, at Victoria University of Wellington. The first was supposed to have been at AUT in Auckland earlier last week.

But in one of life’s great ironies, AUT refused to allow the speech to take place on its campus – I say “ironies” because it was AUT History professor, Paul Moon, who took the initiative a few years ago to promote a strongly-worded statement in favour of free speech, and persuaded a wide range of well-known New Zealanders to put their names to it – New Zealanders as different as Dame Tariana Turia, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Sir Bob Jones and Don Brash.

Another irony is that I have been allowed – or at time of drafting this speech I think I’ve been allowed – to talk about free speech at this Massey campus. As many of you will know, I think I was the first person to be abruptly de-platformed by a New Zealand university when your Vice Chancellor, Jan Thomas, announced with just one day’s notice that I would not be allowed to give a speech which I had been invited to give by the University’s Politics Club. It was to have been about my time as Leader of the National Party, obviously a very dangerous and threatening subject!