Displaying items by tag: freedom of speech

The charge of being a conspiracy theorist is now poison.  A conversation killer. Unfortunately, many dissenters from the State's line on many issues, not just Covid, are cowed by the charge.  It is a trick.

The Gulag Archipelago is coming to a Western democracy near you, very soon.  Not content with closing down economies and societies, and suppressing freedom, governments and their fellow travellers are now coming for the dissidents.

The madness of 2020 has changed our lives forever.  We owe it to ourselves to ask how, who and why?

Politicians are said to love "killer facts".  And to want to "follow the science".  Sadly, those running our Covid policy responses seem not to want to do either.

While a Nationals MP in New South Wales is willing to threaten future of the Coalition Government over koalas, where is the resistance in our political parties to the threats to our basic rights and freedoms visited upon us by the Covid lockdowns their own governments have implemented?

Victoria's police are very concerned about "optics".  Like all corporate institutions these days.  Well, it hasn't been a good week for Australia's police state.

Peter Ridd was a respected Australian academic who dared to question "the science" of climate change, and in particular, the work of colleagues at his then university.  He was sacked for his trouble.  He is now heading for the High Court, and all of us should be hoping he wins his case.  There is much at stake - for freedom.

It has been said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.  Well, on any number of fronts, people in liberal democracies are currently "doing nothing", as our freedoms and the quality of our governance ever decline.  And evil is winning.

Two cases have been highlight overseas recently where a Christian employee has been fired for declining to use the “preferred pronoun” of a person who identifies as a different gender to their biological sex. The cases illustrate that religious freedom, and free speech generally, in the workplace can be under challenge in circumstances involving “gender identity” issues. It is not clear how such cases would be resolved in Australia.

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.