Commentator Bettina Arndt uninvited from Young Liberals university talk on Brittany Higgins

The NSW Young Liberals are facing accusations they’ve gone “woke” after disinviting a controversial commentator and men’s rights advocate from a university event about the Higgins case.

A panel event on the fallout of the Brittany Higgins saga will go ahead with only two guests after the University of Sydney’s Conservative Club ‘cancelled’ their third speaker, Bettina Arndt.

The NSW Young Liberals are facing accusations they’ve gone “woke” after disinviting a controversial commentator and men’s rights advocate from a university event about the Brittany Higgins case.

Writer and social commentator Bettina Arndt was due to appear on a panel next week for the University of Sydney’s Conservative Club, discussing the Higgins saga and the ensuing legal, political and media firestorm alongside media colleagues Chris Merritt, legal commentator for The Australian, and author Andrew Urban.

The line-up for the ‘Lawfare in Australia’ event has been promoted internally by the club since early February, however just seven days before the talk was due to take place, Arndt was abruptly informed by an organiser that she was now “not permitted” to take the stage.

An online listing currently brands the event as “a critical examination of Australia’s legal system and it’s (sic) weaponisation”, with no mention of the Higgins case.

Sources said the rescinded invitation came at the instruction of NSW Young Liberals president Chanum Torres, who had urged the Conservative Club to abandon the event entirely, and allegedly warned organisers their future careers could be at risk if they pursued Arndt as a panellist.

Conservative writer and columnist Bettina Arndt has been disinvited from a University of Sydney student event.

The ‘cancellation’ comes in sharp contrast to the club’s support for Arndt in 2018, when they hosted the commentator’s talk declaring the “rape crisis” on university campuses is “fake” while facing a protest so extreme riot police were called in. Torres became president of the uni’s Conservative Club that month.

The club’s website states they “are not aligned with any political party” and “as such, we are independent in developing and advocating Conservative ideas”.

NSW Young Liberals president Chanum Torres ordered the Conservative Club to rescind Arndt’s invitation. Picture: Supplied

Arndt said Torres and the Young Liberals have “cower(ed) in fear” from activists, making the party’s future leadership look “very bleak”.

“This is the same club who once had the courage to stare down the feral feminists who attacked them for weeks before the event,” Arndt said.

“Once again the Conservative Club was willing to be courageous and include me in the event but it is the Young Liberals who have caved in to the woke.”

Young Liberals president Chanum Torres at NSW parliament for a Mock parliament in 2023. Picture: Facebook

Fellow panellist Andrew Urban said he was “very disappointed” by the club’s decision to remove Ms Arndt from the line-up, and questioned the organisation’s commitment to its values of freedom of speech and debate.

“I think it’s a very indefensible decision … and it doesn’t make any sense for a liberal organisation,” he said.

Torres was contacted for comment but did not respond. The Conservative Club did not respond to questions or a request for comment.

Have you got a university story for The Daily Telegraph? Email [e-mail]