Free To Speak

Jonathan Ayling sits down with Free Speech Union steering group members Dr. David Cumin and Daphna Whitmore (also editor of Marxist blog Redliner) to discuss the pressing need for more Free Speech Union activism on our country's campuses. The team then chat through the Free Speech segment of ACT party leader David Seymour's recent - and very impressive - 'State Of The Nation' A...

Netsafe - the self-professed 'online safety organisation' - has recently released a draft code that would see more content on digital platforms removed under the guise of hate speech and misinformation. While the code would be adopted voluntarily by platforms, it would target speech that is not illegal. Worried? You bloody well should be! This code will quickly be weaponised and politici...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Jonathan Ayling speaks to an advisor (who will remain nameless) who fell foul of management after attending a presentation by LGBTQIA+ activist group InsideOUT. The advisor raised a question at the end with the presenter and soon after received a letter from the Deputy Chief Executive of the organisation, claiming that they had been 'offended and shocked' a...

Join us for the first episode of what is sure to be an informative and entertaining new format. Every week a trio from our steering group (and the occasional special guest) will discuss a number of cases featured in the weekly Free Speech Union newsletter. This is your chance to get a deeper dive into our current case file and to understand the many perspectives that collectively make up the steer...

Georgina Beyer clashed with Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki (currently back in the news for his anti-vaccination stance) in a number of televised debates around this time, and on this weeks episode - hosted by Free Speech Union Spokesperson Dane Giraud - Georgina discusses her many stoushes with Tamaki and why debate is so key to exposing toxic messaging, along with sharing many colorful anecdo...

Former Prime Minister Sir Bill English described them as a threat to democracy a good 15 years ago but we didn't heed his warning. Today 'Codes of Conduct' are being used by Regional Councils to silence dissenting councilors by outlawing criticism and undermining the democratic process. Otago Regional Council made the foolish decision to try to silence Cr. Michael Laws - a man that...

Free Speech Union member Daphna Whitmore spoke to Canadian freelance journalist Meghan Murphy. Meghan is the founder and editor of the Feminist Current website, and hosts a heterodox podcast The Same Drugs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq-04S1vzWPy3G8omi0wVvA   She toured NZ in 2019 speaking about the impact on women’s rights of a law change that would allow ‘sex' to be changed on birth ce...

Daphna Whitmore talks to unionist, political commentator, and FSU member Matt McCarten about his two planned summer campaigns aimed at giving exploited workers a voice.  Matt lifts the lid on bullying in parliament in a truly explosive segment and asks FSU members to support a petition that will shine a light on the exploitation of migrant workers, many of whom are silenced by their abusers by unn...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Jonathan Ayling moderates a panel discussion between National List MP based in Whanganui Harete Hipango, commentator Damien Grant, and Prof. Natasha Hamilton-Hart of Auckland University on the continuing fallout from the 'Listener Letter' and the pile-on from academics that is now seeing two of the letter's authors under investigation by the Royal Soci...

When award-winning Journalist Rachel Stewart had her firearms taken off her over for a joke-tweet, New Zealand was given a chilling taste of how proposed Hate Speech laws will be misused by activists. Rachel speaks to Free Speech Union spokesperson Dane Giraud about the incident, and her getting her guns back (a fact unforgivably underreported), along with today's "war on words", th...

What did Karl Marx really think of Free Speech, and what does this say about the new censorious Left? Tune in for a reading (by Dane Giraud) of a recent piece penned by Free Speech Union member Daphna Whitmore that lays out the traditional Left-wing case for Free Speech and why Marx would not be "team woke!"   "The woke... view the working class as meek and defenseless, not a force...

Is academic freedom in Aotearoa in peril? On this emergency episode of the Free Speech Union podcast, spokesperson Jonathan Ayling sits down with Professors Kendall Clements and Garth Cooper and who co-authored the infamous Listener article several months ago, which claimed Matauranga Maori and science are not the same thing  They are now facing the fury of an offended academy, and an investigatio...

Comments made to the media about council staff have landed Michael Laws - Otago Regional Council deputy chairman and former Whanganui Mayor -  in hot water. The code of conduct complaint was lodged by council chief executive Sarah Gardner on August 16. But Laws is fighting back with claims that codes of conduct, throughout the entire country, are a blight on local democracy as they are empowering...

Is "Word Policing" consistent with Free Speech principles? Free Speech Union Spokesperson Dane Giraud speaks to Auckland-based solicitor and Spectator columnist Juliet Moses about her recent piece (available online: https://spectator.com.au/author/juliet-mosesexample-com/) that criticized a high profile protester's invoking of the Holocaust in opposition to Dave Chappelle's Net...

History may be brimming with battlegrounds, but the discipline has long been one itself. Propagandists both of yesteryear and today have tried to subvert it for ideological reasons which is why today's guest, Robert Tombs, Emeritus Professor of French History, Cambridge, and a Fellow of St John’s College, helped found "History Reclaimed", an initiative dedicated to clawing back the...

Join us for an interview with author, journalist, gay-rights activist, and prominent free speech advocate, Jonathan Rauch. Originally recorded as a Free Speech Union members-only event, we now offer the wider New Zealand public an opportunity to listen to an audio version of the full, rousing interview. Free Speech Union Council Member, Dr. David Cumin moderates drawing from Rauch’s seminal book i...

New Plymouth District Councillor Anneka Carlson was sharply criticized after posting a 13-minute video to her personal Facebook page in which she covered topics including vaccine efficacy and human rights. Accused of being anti-vax the council resisted calls to take action against Carlson, but the incident did highlight how ready many people are to leap on anyone asking questions about the COVID r...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Dane Giraud interviews veteran journalist Ian Sinclair (most famous for a lengthy stint on staple investigative show "Sunday"). The discussion ranges from Ian's encounter with real fascism in Franco's Spain that inspired his move into hard-hitting journalism, the prevalence of opinion pieces today and whether they harm the current media landscape,...

Join us for the podcast version of a live discussion (recorded on the 27th of Sept)  with Free Speech Union Council Member, Stephen Franks, and prominent lawyers Graeme Edgeler and Daniel Kalderimis as they consider the free speech implications of court order name suppression, and whether such orders place an unacceptable limit on free speech www.fsu.nz/join   Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Jordan Williams talks with "Speak Up For Women" co-founder Beth Johnson about the women's rights group's recent stoush with NZME. The media juggernaut canceled one of their advertisements after complaints from a handful of activists despite the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) having already cleared the ad after it attracted criticism in bill...

In this episode of the Free Speech Union podcast, Free Speech Union Council Member Stephen Franks interviews prominent free speech activist and legal academic, Nadine Strossen. Ms. Strossen was the first female president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and sat down for a live discussion with Free Speech Union members.  Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Rahera Poulain speaks with economist Ananish Chaudhuri about the importance of Free Speech and the troubling lack of criticism from the media and the opposition to the mounting examples of government overreach we've seen throughout the pandemic response. A thought-provoking interview with a world-renowned mind. Enjoy and if you haven't already join the Free...

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The Conversion Therapy Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill is certain to impinge on New Zealander's freedom of expression and needs amendments.  Listen here to an unabridged version of the Free Speech Union's submission on the Bill that will step you through our very specific Free Speech concerns and their potentially devastating implications www.fsu.nz/join   Support the show https:/...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Rachel Poulain speaks with Anna Rippon and Dr. Michael Morris of the New Zealand chapter of vegan group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), a “global grassroots network of animal rights activists”. Anna and Dr. Morris discuss why they don’t support the proposed hate speech laws (in spite of the abuse they commonly receive as a minority political group challenging the mai...