The government must amend the legislation to remove this threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Labor will oppose it in its current form. We will not tolerate legislation which exposes journalists to criminal sanction for doing their important work work that is – vital to upholding the right to know. public’s I suggest to you that these attacks on free speech show what a façade this government’s professed commitment to free speech is. The protection of human rights should not be a matter for partisan contest. Despite what Senator Brandis sometimes suggests, human rights are not and never can be the province of any one party. Governments of both political complexions have made meaningful contributions to human rights protection in this country. The Abbott Government, however, has taken us backwards. Hopefully, this government will have learned a serious lesson from its failure this week in relation to section 18C. And if this government has any integrity about its stated principles, it will cease its attacks on free speech in this country. In particular, the Abbott Government must renounce its hostility to environmental groups and wider civil society, and reinstate government support for the involvement of CLCs in advocacy and law reform processes. Senator Brandis must get to work on the journalist shield laws he promised, and encourage his Cabinet colleagues to cease their attacks on the independence and capacity of the ABC to report what is happening in our nation. And the government must also abandon repressive changes to our competition law that would shut down the right to protest through organised actions against corporations. public’s Freedom of speech must not be reduced to a simplistic slogan, employed as a war cry in the pursuit of base political objectives. Freedom of speech must be respected as a fundamental right in our society, a nuanced and deeply important value that we must fight to uphold, and to strengthen.
The government must amend the legislation to remove this threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Labor will oppose it in its current form. We will not tolerate legislation which exposes journalists to criminal sanction for doing their important work – work that is vital to upholding the public’s right to know. I suggest to you that these attacks on free speech show what a façade this government’s professed commitment to free speech is. The protection of human rights should not be a matter for partisan contest. Despite what Senator Brandis sometimes suggests, human rights are not and never can be the province of any one party. Governments of both political complexions have made meaningful contributions to human rights protection in this country. The Abbott Government, however, has taken us backwards. Hopefully, this government will have learned a serious lesson from its failure this week in relation to section 18C. And if this government has any integrity about its stated principles, it will cease its attacks on free speech in this country. In particular, the Abbott Government must renounce its hostility to environmental groups and wider civil society, and reinstate government support for the involvement of CLCs in advocacy and law reform processes. Senator Brandis must get to work on the journalist shield laws he promised, and encourage his Cabinet colleagues to cease their attacks on the independence and capacity of the ABC to report what is happening in our nation. And the government must also abandon repressive changes to our competition law that would shut down the public’s right to protest through organised actions against corporations. Freedom of speech must not be reduced to a simplistic slogan, employed as a war cry in the pursuit of base political objectives. Freedom of speech must be respected as a fundamental right in our society, a nuanced and deeply important value that we must fight to uphold, and to strengthen.
free-speech-report2014.docx