The High Court of Australia today upheld as “reasonable”, and not unconstitutional, the decision of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to dismiss an employee who had made anonymous political comments about migration matters and government policies, contrary to various codes of conduct. The case provides interesting insights into the operation of the implied constitutional freedom of political communication. Many will see similarities with the dismissal of footballer Israel Folau for comments he shared about the Bible’s view of morality, but as we will see, while somewhat factually similar, the cases raise quite different issues.

In the last week, a major debate has restarted in New South Wales about abortion. Most of the commentary however, begs the question and dances around the central issue. The real issue, is not doctors conscience rights, certifying consultants, or whether carrying out an abortion at 39 weeks is too late. It is not a political debate about whether the Berejiklian Government is riding roughshod over the Liberal Party's voter base. The real debate is over whether killing unborn humans as acceptable.