Freedom of Speech & Expression
Mind Your Language
Everyone knows a suit is comprised of a jacket and a pair of pants. Two jackets are not a suit. Neither can two pairs of pants be called a suit. This was an argument I often made during the marriage debate. Marriage, I argued, was the joining of a man and woman in a special relationship. If two men or two...
The Global Online Safety Regulators Network: A Global Surveillance State?
The journalist Michael Schellenberger recently discovered that there is a formal government censorship network called the “Global Online Safety Regulators Network” (GORSN). Australia’s top Internet censor, Julie Inman Grant, an American, described it at the World Economic Forum. The group includes censors from Australia, France, Ireland, South Africa, Korea, the UK, and Fiji. This is a concerning development for anyone...
A Digital Dark Age (part 2)
The only currency that matters is power – getting it and holding on to it. Attaining power these days involves denigrating and silencing your opponents in any way possible: censoring them, branding what they say as misinformation, disinformation or malinformation, with the primary aim being to prevent them getting their message out. As has been observed, ‘When ideas are bad, censorship...
The Murder of Free Speech
One of the most famous lines of historical literature, and of life, was spoken by Shakespeare’s Hamlet as he sought to avenge the murder of his father by his uncle. Claudius wanted power and what better way to get it than to dispose of his brother and marry his widow. It is an age-old proposition for those seeking power. The...
No, Men are not OK
As a society, we generally do not like to talk about suicide. And when we do, we tend to avoid a key issue – why do so many men take their own lives, and why are so many of them middle-aged? The statistics are stark: of 3,249 Australians who took their own lives in 2022, 2,455 were males. That’s more...
Granny Basher’s Discharge Sends the Right Message
One year ago I made a young man famous. The video footage of the horrific political violence he perpetrated against a 71 year-old lady at a Women’s Rights rally shocked the world, leading to international condemnation of New Zealand. Two weeks ago I was in court to witness his sentencing: he received a discharge without conviction and his name was...
Assange’s Last Appeal
Last week, Australian journalist Julian Assange's legal team sought permission from the High Court of the United Kingdom to appeal his extradition to the United States, where he could potentially face severe penalties. This appeal represents Assange's final opportunity to challenge his extradition within the UK's legal system. Assange has become a symbol of injustice, political persecution, and the fight...
Who will watch the Watchers?
The Inspection House Principle Curiosity for a deeper understanding of how Jeremy Bentham’s Inspection House principle relates to our current world has got the better of me. There is so much to dissect in the Panopticon that I thought it fitting to follow on from last month’s contribution. At the end of his treatise, Bentham stresses that his principle of inspection...
Brave New World Wide Web
The reverse correlation between the internet’s growing accessibility and its diminishing freedom can only be arrested by changes in user habits Much has been made of the ACMA ‘misinformation bill’ and its potential impact on free speech online in Australia. But the internet hasn’t been a bastion of free expression for quite some time now, and like always, it ultimately...
Utilitarianism and the Omnipotence of Government
Welcome to the Inspection House, known as the Panopticon. Jeremy Bentham, eighteenth century political thinker, was one of the earliest exponents of the principle of Utilitarianism – the greatest happiness for the greatest number, which he considered to be a fundamental principle of morality. Managing societies is no easy task, hence, as first principles go, it seems reasonable. But what of...
