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Freedom of speech

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NSW Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have taken a different approach to hate speech legislation amid a spike in antisemitism.

If ‘hate speech’ laws go too far, we will lose essential freedoms

In the name of a good cause, what may be said is policed by ever-more intrusive political censorship. That is how free societies lose their freedoms.

  • George Brandis

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Pro-Palestine protesters hold a placard of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at a rally in Melbourne’s CBD in October 2024.

Pro-Palestine protests are intimidating Jews. Moving them doesn’t harm anyone

If there were any doubts about the nature of the menace confronting Australian Jews, it has been made alarmingly clear by the antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney

  • Chip Le Grand
Mark Zuckerberg announced his decision this week to get rid of Meta’s professional fact-checkers,

Don’t blame Zuckerberg: The truth about humans is we can’t handle the truth

The Meta boss tied his axing of fact-checkers to the “cultural tipping point” of Trump winning back the presidency. Let’s hope he doesn’t tip the digital age into a dark age.

  • Alexandra Senter
Pianist Jayson Gillham was criticised over comments at a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert.

I’m the pianist the MSO tried to silence. Now it wants to silence all artists

According to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, I am not an employee or a contractor. Yet it maintains it can dictate what I can and cannot say.

  • Jayson Gillham
The pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Sydney.

Sydney Uni’s ‘enforced civility’ is an assault on free speech – and likely unlawful

It could become one of the most restrictive campuses in the country for peaceful protest, intellectual freedom and critical debate.

  • Sarah Schwartz

Shouty protesters, Elon Musk and our dumb attempts at democracy

I was in the audience when Radiohead’s Thom Yorke called a heckler a coward. This episode got me thinking about freedom and protest – and how not to go about it.

  • Malcolm Knox
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Protesters march during a pro-Palestine rally for Gaza and Lebanon in Melbourne.

The timing is shameful, but the pro-Palestinians have a right to protest

You can only be taken seriously as a defender of free speech if you are willing to defend the right to free expression of views which you oppose and, at times, despise.

  • George Brandis
Left, pianist Jayson Gillham and, right, former Melbourne Symphony Orchestra managing director Sophie Galaise.

Sacked pianist’s action against MSO reveals its divisions

Sacked pianist Jayson Gillham will come up against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for an initial hearing in the Federal Court next week.

  • Kerrie O'Brien
Pro-palestine protests.

Illegal, indecent or essential: What happened to Australians’ right to protest?

As political debate reignites over October 7 protests and free speech, some seek to draw distinctions between the right to protest and what is right.

  • Natassia Chrysanthos
Adler travelled to Israel between school and university but was disappointed with what she found.

These are the things I’ve learnt you can’t ask about Israel

I’ve been called a “kapo”, a “token Jew”, and a denier of Judaism for asking hard questions.

  • Louise Adler

Original URL: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/topic/freedom-of-speech-1mmi