Freedomwatch

Here is the complete transcript from the Hansard transcript of proceedings for the IPA’s appearance before the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee inquiry into the News Media Reform Package 2013. The IPA’s Chris Berg and Simon Breheny appeared to give evidence before the inquiry on 19 March 2013.

BERG, Mr Chris, Director, Policy, Institute of Public Affairs

BREHENY, Mr Simon, Director, Legal Rights Project, Institute of Public Affairs

[15.31]

CHAIR:  I welcome representatives from the Institute of Public Affairs. Thank you for talking to us today. Do you wish to make a brief opening statement before we go to questions?

Mr Breheny:  Yes, please. The news media reform package 2013 is nothing less than an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Australia. It is absurd to claim that the government could institute a regulator to regulate media self-regulators like the Australian Press Council and pretend that doing so would not constitute substantial new government oversight of the free press. This is a fundamental conceptual error with very disturbing consequences and, in our view, government oversight of the press is unacceptable in a liberal democracy. The government has no business deciding what constitutes fairness or balance in a media whose job it is to hold them to account. That ought to be a bedrock principle accepted by all sides of political debate. Continue Reading →

The Gillard government’s anti-discrimination laws weren’t defeated by accident:

Full credit to the federal president of Young Labor who had this important article ($) in The Australian today on why the ALP should defend free speech, not attack it:

In his crusade to ensure government regulation and oversight of media content, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is pursuing a regulatory act that would breach fundamentally the liberal ideal of a free press.

…

Conroy has put freedom of speech and the independence of the press as an election issue, which the Coalition can seek to capitalise on in September if the ALP does not reverse its position on this more draconian element of the reform package. For the many members of the Labor Party at a youth level who are strong advocates of civil liberties, the abridgment of these freedoms should never be an election issue but protected by Labor governments.

A fantastic column in The Australian today from Janet Albrechtsen on the left’s hostility to free speech:

INADVERTENTLY, Stephen Conroy has done us a favour. His arrogant attempt to regulate the content of newspapers reminds us that free speech and a free press can never be taken for granted. He has also reminded us how the Left will use nice-sounding language to hide a radical agenda.

His Public Interest Media Advocate is code for a government-appointed bureaucrat empowered to impose a political interest test when regulating the content of newspapers.

The Minister for Communications has also usefully debunked the claim that there is no longer a Left and Right in this country. Remember the mantra of many on the Left not so long ago that such distinctions were meaningless. While correct on some fronts, it’s wrong on the freedom front. While not every member of the Left supports Conroy’s attempt to muzzle the media, the silence of so many within Labor is telling. This dark episode is a stellar lesson of the Left’s illiberal DNA.

Thanks are also due to Nicola Roxon as she takes her leave from the federal parliament.

Her equally misguided attempt to set boundaries around speech pursuant to her Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill is another example of what many members of the Left will do if given the chance.

The article is sadly behind The Australian‘s paywall here – and shows exactly why you should subscribe!