In Australia free speech costs $68,000

Say you want to speak something you believe to be true, but it may offend or upset some people. Violent thugs threaten to turn up. In Victoria the police bills the non-violent speaker — in this case $68,000 in order to keep the peace.

How is this not “protection money” and with the police working in cohoots with bullies?

Andrew Bolt:

I am calling out Victoria’s Police and their masters in the Labor government. Why are you cooperating with violent fascists of the Left to stop conservatives or people of the right from holding meetings? This $68,000 bill to protect Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux is a disgrace.

Tim Andrews, AustralianTaxPayers Alliance

Rather than going after people who actually cause violence, the Victorian police are trying to shut down a legal, law-abiding speaker and prevent her from giving a lecture. Because of threats made by some Marxist thugs.

This is just not on.

If you believe – like I do – in freedom of speech, then join us in our campaign and contact the Victorian Government to demand action. 

This goes to the very heart of freedom of speech in Australia. If the police can force someone to pay $68,000 or else be silent, then freedom of speech in Australia is dead. If anything, shouldn’t the people responsible for violence be given the bill? Apparently not in Victoria today.

It doesn’t matter if you agree with Lauren or not – this isn’t about her, this is about the fundamental right to freedom of speech.

Unbelievable.

9.7 out of 10 based on 94 ratings

88 comments to In Australia free speech costs $68,000

  • #
    Robdel

    The Victorian Police are just one branch of the mafia prootection racket.

    323

  • #
    Popeye26

    Aaahhh – the Victorian Govt, the unions, the fanatical left, Antifa and the rest of the sods need to bugger off to some country where their deeds and actions are appreciated.

    This is AUSTRALIA NOT some communistic backwater – or maybe they want to send back us in that direction.

    Lock them ALL up I say!!

    Cheers,

    254

  • #
    el gordo

    Why is Murdoch bothering?

    Miranda Devine had ‘earlier puff pieces about her visit, and op-eds defending her in regional newspapers, suggest that News has a disturbing inability to distinguish between ordinary, conservative provocateurs, and those adjacent to white nationalist or fascist movements.’

    Wilson/Guardian

    82

  • #
    Old44

    When the Liberals finally get their act together they will be able to charge the unions and Labor $150,000 for every protest march they hold.

    272

    • #
      John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

      My late father was in the Merchant Navy during WW2 and a had a few stories to tell.
      The Treachery of the Unions in the Second World War

      151

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        My father came back from New Guinea after the War and the treatment given to the returning servicemen by the Waterside Workers was disgusting.

        Probably not many Australians would know that such evil exists, but it does, and is still with us.

        KK

        191

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          People are slowky kearning abiut ut, certainly i tell anyone who will listen about the communists in the unions who did this…word is getting out.

          31

        • #
          Ve2

          Not just WWII, remember the “punch a postie” threat during the Vietnam war when the unions threatened to withhold mail from the troops.

          30

      • #
        TedM

        Yes John, an excellent book that you can get on this very subject, through the library system. “Australia’s Secret War”. But be warned; you will get angry. A lot of Australian soldiers and some Americans died during WW2 because of union action.

        61

        • #

          https://quadrant.org.au/shop/books/australias-secret-war-unions-sabotaged-troops-world-war-ii/

          Australia’s Secret War: How Unions Sabotaged Our Troops in World War II

          Hal Colebatch’s new book, Australia’s Secret War, tells the shocking, true, but until now largely suppressed and hidden story of the war waged from 1939 to 1945 by a number of key Australian trade unions against their own society and against the men and women of their own country’s fighting forces at the time of its gravest peril.
          Between 1939 and 1945 virtually every major Australian warship, including at different times its entire force of cruisers, was targeted by strikes, go-slows and sabo­tage. Australian soldiers operating in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands went without food, radio equipment and munitions, and Aus­tralian warships sailed to and from combat zones without ammunition, because of strikes at home. Planned rescue missions for Australian prisoners-of-war in Borneo were abandoned because wharf strikes left rescuers without heavy weapons. Officers had to restrain Australian and American troops from killing striking trade unionists.

          40

  • #
    Thingadonta

    There was a certain fascist group in the 1930s who would charge Jews for the costs associated with fascist looting, violence, and such like, and taking all the assets when forcing them to immigrate.

    152

  • #

    Just received the email from Tim Andrews @taxpayers.org.au. Bears
    repeating (and appropriate action.) Free Speech! Non-fiat rule of law
    fer all. Why we suppoerted Peter Ridd.

    ‘I was absolutely stunned to wake up this morning and read that
    Victorian Police had issued a $68,000 bill to Canadian activist
    Lauren Southern.

    Why did they issue this bill? Did she do something wrong? Did she
    break the law?’

    No. They issued this bill because – wait for it – some violent, far-left thugs, threatened to protest her.

    I am not joking. This is what really happened. Rather than going after people who actually cause violence, the Victorian police are trying to shut down a legal, law-abiding speaker and prevent her from giving a lecture. Because of threats made by some Marxist thugs.

    This is just not on.

    If you believe – like I do – in freedom of speech, then join us in our campaign and contact the Victorian Government to demand action at http://www.taxpayers.org.au/fight-vic-polices-extortion-of-lauren-southern
    Just now received the email from Tim Andrews # taxpayers.org.au
    ‘This goes to the very heart of freedom of speech in Australia.
    If the police can force someone to pay $68,000 or else be silent,
    then freedom of speech in Australia is dead. If anything, shouldn’t
    the people responsible for violence be given the bill? Apparently
    not in Victoria today.

    It doesn’t matter if you agree with Lauren or not – this isn’t
    about
    her, this is about the fundamental right to freedom of speech.

    Our democracy is based on freedom of speech. What the Victorian
    Police are doing goes completely against this.’

    302

  • #
    Another Ian

    Michael Smith has a very good point:-

    “Hey @VictoriaPolice – how much have you charged the CFMEU?”

    http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/07/hey-victoriapolice-how-much-have-you-charged-the-cfmeu.html

    202

  • #
    RossP

    They were due to visit NZ as well. They had booked a venue in Auckland, which happened to be a Council owned building. The leftie Mayor came out a few weeks after the booking was confirmed and stopped it saying Council venues could not used. The head of the local Muslim community had complained to the Mayor !!.
    So a few free speech advocates quickly formed a group and through a “give a little” type fund raiser, raised $50,000 in less than 24 hours to pay for lawyers to take the Mayor/Council to Court. So it is all on.
    Today it was announced that under NZ law they cannot be stopped coming into NZ so we are all hoping a new venue can be found quickly.
    The side effect is that thousands of people who did know who Southern and Molyneux were are now well aware of them and plenty of people have commented favourably on Southern’s “Farmlands” doco.

    260

  • #
    Annie

    I had the email from Tim Andrews. It is truly unbelievable what is happening here. This is not the Australia we first came to in the mid-eighties. We are being strangled by ever more numerous tentacles of evil control, orchestrated by the far left. Like the pro-Trump support get-together in London, peaceful free-speech supporters are being bullied by the nasties and the police are not clamping down on the bullies but on those peacefully assembling. It all utterly stinks.

    291

    • #
      Annie

      It seems ole red thumb has gone off for supper…what time will it be back? That’s someone (or two) who doesn’t care for free speech.

      133

    • #

      Yes Annie,

      It’s too disturbing, extremist activists capturing
      western-democratic,-inclusive-institutions in order to
      control honest, non-fiat law, open education, free speech,
      to be replaced with ‘1984’ witch-hunt, medja-massaging,
      Orwell’s Distopia. Serfs’ are shocked and bereft…

      bts

      91

  • #
    pat

    check out what happened to Judge Jeanine of Fox after she was INVITED to speak on MSNBC:

    19 Jul: Youtube: 6mins23secs: Whoopi Goldberg Told Judge Jeanine Pirro to ‘Get the F*** Out’ of ‘The View’
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLInr70OUXk

    mentioned by Hannity:

    19 Jul: Washington Examiner: Drudge: Liberal media has ‘fetish for Trump’s physical harm/death’
    by Eddie Scarry
    Trump’s head in the cartoon appears to have splattered across the floor, though he is still giving a thumbs up gesture…
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/drudge-liberal-media-has-fetish-for-trumps-physical-harm-death

    some of the following stuff has now been removed, I gather, but check it out:

    19 Jul: GatewayPundit: Brock Simmons: Leftists Peddle T-Shirts Of Trump Lynching, Instagram Is Promoting It
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/07/leftists-peddle-t-shirts-of-trump-hanging-by-tie-noose-instagram-is-promoting-it/

    60

    • #
      Annie

      These people utterly disgust me, it seems they are more deserving of police support than law-abiding normal people.

      60

  • #
    pat

    the profession “left” likes to think they speak for their “side”:

    19 Jul: Daily Caller: Gallup: Immigration Is The Top Issue For Voters Heading Into Midterm Elections
    by Will Racke
    Immigration is the number one answer when Americans are asked what issue is the most pressing problem facing the country, according to Gallup’s latest poll.
    In fact, the share of people who say immigration is the most important issue is higher now that at any time in the past 17 years that Gallup has been asking the question…

    Rising concern over immigration is a bipartisan phenomenon, according to the Gallup poll. Among Republicans, Democrats, and self-described independents, more than twice as many respondents in July said immigration was the top issue as they did in August 2017…
    http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/19/gallup-immigration-voters-midterms/

    18 Jul: Gallup: Immigration Surges to Top of Most Important Problem List
    by Frank Newport
    Americans’ Views of the Top Problem Facing the U.S. JULY 2018
    Problems mentioned by at least 3% of respondents in July
    (CAGW OR ANY VARIATION DOESN’T MAKE THE CUT)
    LINK PDF View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.
    (ENVIRONMENT/POLLUTION – 2%. NO CAGW, CC OR ANY VARIATION THEREOF)
    https://news.gallup.com/poll/237389/immigration-surges-top-important-problem-list.aspx?utm_source=twitterbutton&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=sharing

    50

  • #
    John Watt

    Just to take this back to the AGW myth ,some years ago our local Ruddite hosted a “greatest moral dilemma” session at a local high school. I attempted to broaden the discussion by asking the Ruddite and his scientific adviser to comment on Dr John Nicol’s analysis of the role of CO2. The scientific adviser, a Griffith Uni academic , latched on to Nicol’s association with James Cook Uni and immediately used this to shut me down. So much for “free” speech. (I later saw a TV news clip on the Griffith academic. He is a respected expert on frogs and the like. So the Ruddite was sufficiently energy illiterate/deceptive to present this frog guru to the voting public as a “climate” expert.)

    141

    • #
      Santa Baby

      It’s easy to be a climate expert. If you read the political established UNFCCC and believe it to be the truth then you are a climate expert.

      31

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    It’s hard to believe that the promise of democracy that held us all together is now nothing but a bad nightmare.

    The future seems fraught with problems of perception, deception and Direction.

    Where are we headed with leadership that is only concerned with qualifying for the Parliamentary Pension.

    KK

    61

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    In the UK the police say they don’t have enough cash to police Poppy day parades so they are cancelled, but they apparently do have spare cash to vinyl wrap police cars in rainbow colours and police ‘Pride’ events.

    80

  • #
    PeterS

    So let me get this straight. If someone from wants to visit Victoria and there is a risk of violence by some local thugs then the Vic police can send to the visitor a bill for his/her protection. First question. Does that apply to any visitor or only from overseas visitors? If only overseas then why the discrimination? If it applies to any visitor then how come bills aren’t sent to politicians from other states who visit Vic and conduct speech campaigns that can lead to violent protests? I see a clear case of discrimination in either case, and hence is illegal since payment is requested. Of course in reality they can send the bills but the payee need not pay. The bill belongs in the rubbish bin.

    101

  • #
    TdeF

    Let’s see. $68,000 for say 200 protesters. That’s $340 a head to have say 200 police, one for each protester or thug. I know it’s loaded for time and half, but at a rate of $1700 a week or $85,000 a year for police if they spend 8 hours. A 2 hour show would be a rate of $340,000 per year per policeman. Sounds like profiteering by the police. Or if only 100 police, we are talking about professionals on $680,000 per policeman per year, pro rated for 2 hours.

    So where are we getting such expensive policemen on salaries of good fraction of a million per year. Or is there a big horse charge, credit charge at the end? Who makes this stuff up?

    This amount of money is surreal for people actually doing their job and keeping the peace. Like parking meters and $160 speeding fines at 45 km/hr with some intersections bringing in $6Million a year. Clearly it is not about slowing traffic. Public speeches attacked by violent thugs are a real opportunity to make a fortune or stop free speech. Very reminiscent of tripling the price of coal to Hazelwood, knowing that would force the closure and we, the public, receive nothing. No electricity and no payment.

    Personally I have great sympathy with our police force who do a really tough job, have long hours and are paid poorly. So who came up with such ridiculous amount?

    It also begs the question of what the police would be doing? Perhaps they could issue ‘protest’ attendance tickets themselves and collect the cash? Try going to a concert without a ticket. The police are there anyway and could collect $340 a ticket from every protester. Available from Ticketek. Of course we and they know no one would turn up. Gives new meaning to ‘free’ speech.

    101

    • #
      TdeF

      In short, this is a ridiculous amount of money for people on salaries to keep the peace, which is their job.

      Then if the public service has to pay for itself with excessive charges, why do we pay taxes at all?

      For example, why does SBS on $400Million a year run advertising?

      Why do police have income targets on traffic? I believe the police force are as much victims of this public money grab as the paying public.

      68 police and that’s a lot would be $1000 each for the night.

      Professional orchestral musicians average $72 an hour and have to work hard with great skill. If the police were actually paid $1000 each they would be thrilled.

      So who came up with this figure and how? We know why.

      111

      • #
        TdeF

        In another sense, the protesters are insisting on their right to speak, their right to turn up when they are not invited, their right to stop other people from listening. Where are the rights of the speaker?

        No, the so called protesters should be charged $68,000 to pay for the their own policing.
        After all, without them the police would not have to attend.

        120

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        TdeF:

        You have to bear in mind that the vast majority of protesters would be on the government payroll (Civil? Servants, Teachers, University Staff and others, and unemployed or otherwise remunerated. Charging them would not bring in any extra money for the Government, even if it was paid. Any attempt to collect from the protesters would certainly be met by force…..IDEA for the FUTURE Then we could charge them extra and if they didn’t pay, then dismissal from the payroll or cancellation of their benefits.

        80

  • #
    TdeF

    There is another basic problem with this, the idea of ‘victim pays’.

    Because the ‘protesters’ are violent and threaten harm to the speaker and the listeners, the police are required to attend.

    When did law enforcement, laws against affray and riot mean that peaceful people attending a talk have to pay protection money to the police for the predictable, even promised violence of a typical Victoria left crowd? This has become routine.

    The victim pays mentality is becoming very common in leftist governments, from London to Melbourne. The utterly predictable perpetrators walk free and a good night’s entertainment. They get ‘free’ speech, entirely at our expense. I am tired of the ANTIFA crowd. They are the brownshirts.

    181

  • #
    pat

    o/t

    19 Jul: CBC: Carbon tax fight intensifies as Ontario joins Saskatchewan in opposition
    VIDEO: 2mins20secs: Ontario Premier Doug Ford joined Scott Moe in challenging the tax, arguing it will make life unaffordable for families and risk thousands of jobs.
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/carbon-tax-fight-intensifies-as-ontario-joins-saskatchewan-in-opposition-1.4754540

    20 Jul: CBC: How a carbon tax will affect Canadians is difficult to predict
    Provinces and territories have been given the option to come up with their own carbon pricing plan
    If Saskatchewan and Ontario are unsuccessful in convincing the courts that the federal government has no right to impose a carbon tax on provinces, then every jurisdiction in Canada could have some kind of carbon pricing scheme implemented in the near future.

    Last year, the government announced it was giving the provinces and territories until the beginning of September to “outline how they are implementing carbon pricing systems that meet the federal standard.”
    Those standards, or benchmarks, demand that a carbon price of $10 a tonne must be implemented this year. That price will increase to $20 on Jan. 1, 2019 and to $50 a tonne in 2022.​..

    Canadians will be impacted by direct and indirect costs — from the taxes on emissions from energy used in households and the the pass-through of costs from businesses to households, wrote Jennifer Winter, director of energy and environmental policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, in a May 2017 blog.

    Tax expert Mitch LaBuick said, “It’s not going to be a black-or-white thing. On a very very high level will the carbon tax take the money out of the pockets of people? And the short answer is, yes it will do that.”
    “You have to remember that the spirit of a carbon tax is to alter behaviours so that they’re not consuming or burning carbon fuels. So if you want to keep the money in your pocket, ***don’t consume these things.”…

    But, as LaBuick points out, basic economics dictate that as costs go up, prices will go up because businesses need to maintain their margins…READ ON
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/carbon-tax-canadians-cost-prices-1.4753664

    30

  • #
    pat

    19 Jul: Guardian: Subsidies for new household solar panels to end next year
    Renewable energy installations will no longer benefit from feed-in tariff, ministers confirm
    by Adam Vaughan
    The renewables industry and green groups have accused ministers of striking a major blow against household solar power after the government said a green energy subsidy scheme would end next year without a replacement…

    Solar installations had already largely dried up after the incentives were cut drastically in 2016, but renewables advocates had hoped a replacement would take its place. On Thursday, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy made clear there would be no extension or new alternative…

    Climate change charity 10:10 said the government had called “lights out” for small-scale renewables. Max Wakefield, a campaigner at the group, said the decision “ignores the role that people and communities want to play in energy transition”.

    ***Controversially, anyone installing solar after April will no longer even be paid for exporting their excess solar electricity to local power grids…

    The government’s announcement came on the same day that it launched a consultation to allow exploratory shale well gas wells to be built without planning permission.
    The recent weeks of sunny weather have helped solar power to smash a series of records in the UK, and solar panels have regularly been providing more than a fifth of the country’s electricity generation ***for several hours a day.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/19/subsidies-for-new-household-solar-panels-to-end-next-year

    30

  • #
    pat

    19 Jul: The Hill: House votes to disavow carbon tax
    By Timothy Cama and Juliegrace Brufke
    The House passed a nonbinding measure Thursday to denounce a carbon tax, calling it “detrimental” to the United States.

    The resolution, sponsored by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), states that a tax on emissions of carbon dioxide — the most prevalent greenhouse gas that causes climate change — “would be detrimental to American families and businesses, and is not in the best interest of the United States.”
    It passed 229-180 with two members voting “present.”

    Six Republicans voted against the resolution…
    Seven Democrats broke with their caucus to vote “yes”…
    The risk of lawmakers passing a carbon tax is low, considering widespread GOP opposition and Republican control of both chambers of Congress and the White House…

    “This resolution will send a clear signal to the American people that we oppose policies that would drive up energy prices for families and for businesses,” Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) said Thursday on the House floor.
    “A stand-alone carbon tax, generally, would have such detrimental effects on the economy and would be an unwarranted and transparent grab for revenue,” he said…
    “The adverse economic effects of such a tax would be felt throughout the economy, falling hardest on the most vulnerable, young, the poor, the elderly and those on fixed incomes.”

    Scalise said a carbon tax is a real threat. His home state, Louisiana, relies heavily on offshore oil and natural gas drilling for its economy, an industry that could be hit hard by a tax on the carbon emissions that fossil fuels create.
    “Believe me, there are some people in Washington that are talking about trying to bring a carbon tax. To act like, ‘Oh, there’s no talk about it at all.’ Clearly, there are people here in this chamber that want to impose a carbon tax,” he said on the floor.
    “Let’s be clear about how devastating that would be to the American people,” he said, citing research from conservative groups that a carbon tax would increase the average family’s costs by $1,900 a year.
    Democrats dismissed the resolution as a waste of time instead of defending carbon taxes…

    Thursday’s resolution also served as a major test for the Climate Solutions Caucus, which launched in 2016. It is a bipartisan group of 86 lawmakers, split evenly between the parties, who generally agree that they want to fight climate change, but rarely agree on policies to do so…
    In the end, 34 of the climate caucus’s 43 Republican members voted for the resolution to denounce a carbon tax…
    http://thehill.com/homenews/house/397848-house-votes-to-disavow-carbon-tax

    19 Jul: Inside Climate News: House Votes to Denounce Carbon Taxes. Where Was the Climate Solutions Caucus?
    Only 4 of the 43 Republicans who claim membership in the Climate Solutions Caucus voted against the resolution. All were early members of the group.
    By Marianne Lavelle
    It was a win for a coalition of groups funded by the petrochemical billionaire Koch brothers and other wealthy, right-wing opponents of climate action. And it revealed weak resolve for bucking GOP leadership among most of the 43 Republican members of the Climate Solutions Caucus.
    If the bipartisan caucus had held firm, the resolution would have been handily defeated…
    The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the Heartland Institute, and 18 other conservative advocacy groups had urged House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this month to bring the resolution to the floor…

    30

  • #
    Dave in the States

    Practicing free speech and proclaiming unpopular truths can cost one much more than 68K in academia and science. It can and does cost one his/her job and career. How much does that add up to?

    70

  • #
    pat

    19 Jul: WA Today: Corbell back on solar game, with 100MW solar farm planned for Sutton
    By Finbar O’Mallon
    Residents have reacted with alarm to plans for a massive solar farm at Sutton, which will cover 370 hectares of farmland.
    ***Former deputy chief minister Simon Corbell, who led Canberra’s ambitious move to fund solar and wind projects around Australia, is an advisor to the project.

    At 120 megawatts, the Springdale Solar Farm is five times bigger than the Royalla farm outside Tuggeranong, which was Australia’s largest solar farm in 2014 at 20 megawatts.
    It also dwarfs three other ACT government-funded farms, Mugga Lane at 13 megawatts, Williamsdale at 11 megawatts and Mount Majura at 2.3 megawatts.
    The farm is to be developed by Sydney-based Renew Estate, with construction slated to begin in April next year and the farm is expected to be operational by January 2019.

    Renew Estate’s largest shareholder is the German-based Wircon Group, with Canberra’s Beast Solutions’ – ***whose owners include Toby Roxburgh and for which Mr Corbell works – another shareholder in the company.
    Neighbours of the new proposal at Sutton are frustrated by how close the panels will be to their front doors.
    Plans for the new Springdale Solar Farm show the panels will be about 350 metres – or about two football fields – away from the homes on their property…

    Sutton resident Peter Gillett is concerned the proposed farm will ruin his views and hit the value of his property.
    “It just seems a really ridiculous location for it when there are other areas in NSW that are suited for these types of developments,” Mr Gillett said.

    ***Renew Estate has said it would offer immediate neighbours a share of the revenue raised with the projects.
    Mr Corbell said the current amount proposed was $200,000 for each neighbour – or $10,000 a year – over a 20-year period…

    “So it gives those residents some additional revenue,” Mr Corbell said. “That is really a very innovative thing. We have seen it with wind farm projects.”
    But Sutton resident Mr Gillett has described this amount as “frankly insulting”.
    “We flatly rejected it, it was insignificant,” Mr Gillett said…

    He also criticised what he sees as a lack of community consultation and said his neighbours will also have panels surrounding their driveway.
    Mr Gillett said Sutton residents move out there for the rural living and the solar farm’s neighbours would be impacted by the farm…
    He believes property prices will drop as a result of the impact the farm would have on views from his property…

    ***Mr Corbell said the company understood the residents’ concerns but the proposed farm was permitted under planning laws…

    Renew Estate would provide a community fund of $100,000 over 20 years for the community within a 20 kilometre radius of the farm.
    Details for how the fund would work were still being worked through, but it would be managed by a committee of local representatives, councillors and representatives from the solar farm.
    Renew Estate would also give the community the option to invest in the farm, allowing them to receive returns from energy sales…

    Renew Estate is holding a public information session in Sutton on Wednesday, August 8, but opponents of the farm, the Sutton Solar Action Group, will be looking to host a community meeting before then.
    https://www.watoday.com.au/national/act/corbell-back-on-solar-game-with-100mw-solar-farm-planned-for-sutton-20180718-p4zs65.html

    10

  • #
    Bachy

    Only one country has a constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and even they are having problems with leftists trying to shut conservatives down. Australia? Freedom of speech? A snowball in hell has a greater chance than free speech in Australia.

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    • #
      Joe

      Constitutions generally bestow rights upon the citizens of the country, not foreigners. It is not a matter of whether Jo shares the same beliefs or ideologies as these visitors. It just seems a bit bizarre for Jo to make the argument that foreign citizens should have the same ‘right to free speech’ as Australians when they visit. Surely a sovereign nation, can decide who can visit, what they can preach and when they do, what if any they can be charged.

      18

      • #
        Bachy

        Where appropriate, such as being able to serve in Congress or being President, the US Constitution does specifically mention citizens. In the case of the First Amendment though, it does not. It’s generally accepted in the US legal fraternity that the right to freedom of speech will be respected for both citizens and non citizens alike.

        Now to the subject matter. I think that you cannot say that you respect people’s right to freedom of speech until you’ve defended people’s right to say things you find personally abhorrent. A case in point, my defense of holocaust deniers or nazis. My fraternal grandmother escaped Germany during the bad times so I have some small amount of skin in the game. If I do not defend the right of people to say these things, then what I advocate is censorship where people can only say things that I believe in or at best do not find offensive.

        So to this Lauren person. I don’t know what she believes in, or has to say. Nor do I care or think it’s relevant. Despite that I will defend her right to speak, the alternative is to hand control of what we can and cannot say to a small and politically motivated group and that never works out well for anyone.

        20

        • #
          Russ Wood

          I read an excellent quote: “Free speech in theory sounds like a great idea, until you realise how many people use it to say the wrong things”.

          00

          • #
            Bachy

            A good quote as long as the author is being sarcastic. Free speech is absolute, or it’s ideological censorship.

            10

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Bizarre Logic.

        Speech is one thing.

        Violence or the threat of violence is another thing completely.

        In some sense, the threat of violence maybe be seen as assault.

        Shouldn’t Australians obey the law.

        KK

        30

      • #

        The people paying to see these foreign citizens are Australians. The people threatening violence are Australians. Normally those who break the law suffer consequences, not the victims, foreign or otherwise.

        The police presence is paid by taxpayers so that Australian citizens may listen to and be informed by anyone from anywhere that they choose.

        The police are supposed to serve and protect law abiding Australian taxpayers. Isn’t that the point?

        70

        • #
          Joe

          Jo, there was no suggestion that the police were not doing their duty to protect people. There was no suggestion that lawbreakers were somehow given a free pass. The taxpayers were still footing the bill as they always do. Your point and others was that the police were not entitled to recover some of the taxpayer’s expenses from the visiting entertainer/preacher/speaker. It happens for every big foreign music performance or sporting event staged here. Would you expect every taxpayer to foot the bill for the security of a Rolling Stones concert and not have it funded by those that benefit from the event? It is a bit cynical to hope that they can catch enough baddies and fine them sufficiently to fund the exercise. The police are normally there as a deterrent and any fine income is likely to be very small.

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            Annie

            O come on! They wouldn’t be expecting vicious trouble from demonstrators at a Rolling Stones concert, now would they?

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    pat

    20 Jul: RenewEconomy: Networks, grid operators seek more consultation on solar “orchestration” plan
    By Sophie Vorrath
    In a statement on Friday, Energy Networks Australia said that due to “overwhelming interest,” the Open Energy Networks Consultation Paper, published jointly with AEMO in June, would now accept submissions from stakeholders until August 10, 2018…
    It’s a hugely important issue, when you consider that AEMO itself has forecast rooftop solar to generate between 31-50TWh of power across the National Electricity Market by 2040, and supply up to 22 per cent national demand.

    The numbers, laid out in the AEMO’s Integrated System Plan published earlier this week, put distributed solar and storage, or DER, on track to supply more power to the national grid than coal within little more than 20 years…ETC
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/networks-grid-operators-seek-consultation-solar-orchestration-plan-42315/

    20 Jul: Bloomberg: Goldman Sachs Puts a Grim Number on Solar Slump for This Year
    By Chris Martin
    Anyone following clean energy knew this could be a tough year for solar. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. just put a grim number on how bad.
    The pace of global installations will contract by 24 percent in 2018, Goldman analysts led by Brian Lee said in a research note late Wednesday. That’s far more dire than the 3 percent decline forecast by Bloomberg NEF in the bleakest of three scenarios outlined in a report earlier this month
    Credit Suisse Group AG is forecasting a 17 percent contraction…

    It comes after China announced in late May it was curbing utility-scale development in the world’s biggest market, pulling the plug on about 20 gigawatts of projects. That will reduce global installations to 75 gigawatts, down from 99 gigawatts in 2017, Lee said in an email…

    JinkoSolar Holding Co., the world’s largest panel maker, fell as much as 3.2 percent, the most intraday in a week. The Bloomberg Intelligence Global Large Solar index declined as much as 2.1 percent.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-19/goldman-sachs-puts-a-grim-number-on-solar-slump-for-this-year

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    TdeF

    This in Victoria where the Premier and friends stole $384,000 of public money to pay their ‘volunteers’ in the last election then spent another $1.2Million of our money in the courts trying to stop the ombudsman’s investigation into the theft and paid the money back immediately when charges were recommended.

    Now they have the audacity to claim that they never knew about it, never knew there was a problem with stealing public money to pay for their election. As usual, the Premier himself denies all knowledge. He has been publicly contradicted by his own people. Will the police investigate?

    These are the same people who are directing the police to massively fine speakers. $68,000 for daring to speak out.

    Who is organizing the riots and paying the rioters to create the threat? Who is telling them where and when? Who is sending the smss and emails and newsletters? Are they Union directed? Are they CFMEU, ETU, UFU people? Are the balaclavas government issue? Not seen since the days before WW2. When will the attacks on the Synagogues start?

    This is not Australia. This is the Communist Left with its hands in our pockets and on our throats.

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    TdeF

    Looking at the photos just in with 800 paying listeners bussed to the talk. The under 200 ‘protesters’ appear to be very young people, under 21. They look like first year students but very worked up. The police are armed for combat in blocks. This looks the work of student unions.

    So maybe it is a spill over of people who have too little work to do at University and plenty of time on their hands. Few real students in demanding courses have time to turn up on a Friday night and scream at people for daring to listen to different opinions. Most soldiers in war are under 21. Invincible, gullible, irresponsible and easy to incite to mindless violence. We know who is supporting this openly, but who is driving and organizing this?

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    The Deplorable Vlad the Impaler

    Welcome to the PDRA (the “Peoples Democratic Republic of Australiastan”).

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    Tom O

    I find this intriguing in SO many ways. Not only will the police get paid by tax payers, but just think, they can start charging you for doing the work you actually pay them for in the first place. You can expect a bill for every “service” they do, such as answer a call on a robbery – “that will be a $1000 for our sending two officers and an investigator to check out your robbery, up front please,” or how about driving through your neighborhood on patrol? Why that alone can yield thousands of dollars as they “protect and serve.” Just think of it! A $100 bill for every house in the neighborhood because by their presence, they are protecting you! Yes, don’t sweat the racketeers anymore as they are now all in the police department running new rackets. Cool. You can always tell how a government is failing by the ways it tries to raise revenues.

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      GD

      Not only will the police get paid by taxpayers … they can start charging you for doing the work you actually pay them for in the first place … “that will be a $1000 for our sending two officers and an investigator to check out your robbery, up front please.”

      So, along with Ambulance insurance, Victorians will also need police insurance.

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      GD

      “Officer, that man running away stole my wallet.”

      “Sir, that will cost you $100.”

      “Yes, officer, it’s in the wallet.”

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    Curious George

    Berkeley culture is taking roots in Australia. Actually, the OZ is improving on it. Violent demonstrations against a visit of Milo Yiannopoulos caused USD 100,000 damage in Berkeley, but they did not charge it to Milo.

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    Ruairi

    The Left, meaning sinister too,
    By their actions we see it is true,
    With dark clothes and masked faces,
    They emerge from their bases,
    To silence and cow me and you.

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    James in Perth

    It doesn’t matter if you agree with Lauren or not – this isn’t about her, this is about the fundamental right to freedom of speech.

    Wrong! It is exactly what it looks like: a shakedown directed at conservative thought.

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    pattoh

    LCM will probably get a retrospective bill for spruiking Tony Abbott!

    Setka’s Puppet, Dan the Man will probably be working on a scheme to fine out of state Coalition Members who do the rounds campaigning for their colleagues in the next Federal Election [ if he is still there………..].

    Touch the Devil & you can’t let go.

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    Yonniestone

    I have plenty to say on this abomination of powers but the excellent comments above have covered most points, for any questions of how an elected government can behave like this have a look at the backgrounds and current activities of those that people put into positions of power, if voters don’t like being treated as a commodity then they should make a bloody effort to objectively research each candidate they consider to use their vote on that will impact their lives.

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      Kinky Keith

      And in summary of your excellent comment;

      Your vote is Valuable.

      Spend it wisely.

      Do not vote for anyone who has a higher allegiance to say, a Union or Big Business or to any Post Modern Green Theology.

      Try to vote for decent and sensible representatives. I know that’s not easy but Try it, just once, all together.

      Vote To Unshackle Your Family from Green Enslavement and Social Intrusion.

      KK

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    Robber

    Just search for the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and the Socialist Alliance. Frightening – do it their way or else.

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    Reed Coray

    Mark Steyn has been saying essentially the same thing for a long time–namely that the important issue isn’t the individual message being spoken; but with a few exceptions (falsely yelling fire in a crowded room, advocating the violent overthrow of the government, etc.), the right to freely state the message is what’s important.

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    Greebo

    To think we poor Victorians still have 127 days before we can vote on Andrews and crap like this…

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      GD

      Sadly, I remember voting at the last state election. I approached a few Liberal volunteers at the polling booth and the feeling of despondency was palpable.

      That was the election that Labor paid actors to dress up as nurses and firemen to go door-knocking. The ambulances and fire engines were covered in pro-Labor graffiti. The stupid thing was the nurses wore those out-dated white dresses and caps, instead of the basic uniform that nurses today wear.

      However, it still fooled the sheeple.

      For the love of God, I hope that this morally deficient, corrupt socialist government is thrown out in November.

      Unfortunately, I fear for the worst, as Mathew Guy, the Liberal leader, is no match for the Labor/union juggernaut that is the CFMMEU Andrews government.

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    NB

    It has always struck me as remarkable the lengths a Labor government will go to lose the next election it faces.

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    NB

    Lol, the ALP in Victoria is a sinking ship.

    00