Cancelled Again: Who Controls Campus Free Speech?

Bettina Arndt

Last time I spoke at Sydney University, the riot squad had to be called in to protect my audience from the baying mob of feminist activists trying to close the speech down.

They didn’t like the fact I was speaking out about their efforts to force universities to set up kangaroo courts to adjudicate sexual assault.

Funnily enough, this kerfuffle led to the federal government calling an inquiry into free speech on campus, which ultimately led to laws that require universities to promote open discussion, rather than allow activists to determine the public discourse.

Obviously, those regulations haven’t had the intended impact because unruly students just go on their sweet way.

Earlier this month I was cancelled again—and this time by the Young Liberals, for Heaven’s sake.

What does that say about the future of the centre-right Liberal Party when they are the ones shutting down proper debate?

The University of Sydney Conservatives Club was hosting a discussion evening focussed on the Higgins rape case. I was approached three months earlier to appear on a panel, along with Chris Merritt, vice president of the Rule of Law Institute, and author Andrew Urban.

The young women organising the event did a terrific job putting together thoughtful discussion points including the use of the case for political ends, undermining of the presumption of innocence, concerns about unmeritorious cases being brought before the courts, damage to the credibility of the media, and the impact of #MeToo.

It was just perfect for setting the scene for civilised debate for a select audience—the event was promoted solely to the Conservative Club students.

Ironically, the previous event hosted by the club just two weeks earlier featured Tony Abbott and the famous UK commentator, Konstantin Kisin, who argued freedom of speech is the cornerstone of Western civilisation.

Clearly, Mr. Kisin’s important message failed to impact on the blinkered views of the president of the Young Liberals who took it upon himself to cancel me.

The week before the event, the president suddenly announced to the female students running the event they weren’t permitted to include me—apparently, Young Liberals NSW has final control over the Club’s activities.

It is interesting to note the new NSW Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic applauded the decision to ban me—to think that this woman won the seat of the late, great Jim Molan.

The Young Liberals president actually suggested that hosting an event with me could ruin the career of the art/law student who was the major organiser.

It is quite bizarre and extremely alarming that this young man, who presumably has set his sights on a career in Liberal politics, should join the ranks of the thought police.

In fact, he preferred the event not to take place at all. But the organisers stuck to their guns and decided to go ahead with the event, with my two fellow panellists to handle the discussion.

But when it comes to marketing and promoting the event, the interference came again, with demands that Ms. Higgins not be mentioned.

The promotion simply mentioned, “Lawfare in Australia,” a very bland and rather misleading presentation of the proposed discussion which was originally promoted as “Higgins Unpacked.”

In the end, the event did end up being cancelled, after the other panellists decided on principle to withdraw.

Apparently, the president was not acting off his own bat, but rather had been leant on by other senior members of the organisation. And there are many Young Libs who objected strenuously to my exclusion, so there’s dissension in the ranks, with factional issues at play.

Yet the fact remains that key Young Libs were determined that Higgins remains unpacked.

The head of the organisation failed to answer a series of questions asking him to explain the reasoning for his decision. These included my suggestion that he may subscribe to a preferred narrative regarding the Higgins case.

Heaven forbid that some of the student audience might open their minds to alternative perspectives on the issue. It just shows what a great job the Brittany Higgins cheer squad has done to shut down proper discussion around the facts of this case.

Given the biased media coverage, it will be interesting if Bruce Lehrmann wins his defamation action against the media—the outcome is to be announced on April 4.

The general public has been so misinformed about the holes in the Higgins case that many will be outraged if the judge finds the media was wrong to promote her very story.

It’s a very bad look for Young Liberals to be opposed to uncensored public discussion of the social and political implications of this critical legal case.

The conundrum faced by young conservatives was addressed by Konstantin Kisin, during his recent tour of Australia. At the end of his two-week tour, he warned that this country has been infected by the woke virus, with people afraid to speak out on any number of issues.

“While the centre left appears its extremist fringe, many on the centre-right hesitate to challenge the cultural vandalism they observe for fear of being described as ‘cultural warriors,’” he said.

Was that the fear that prompted this worrying move by the Young Liberals? They know that a thorough dissection of the Brittany Higgins saga would lead to the usual Twitter storm from the lunatic fringe who control so much of university culture.

If that was enough to lead our future Liberal leaders to cower in fear, the future of inspiring political leadership in this country looks very bleak indeed.

It’s a strange thing that this 74-year-old grandmother still has them quaking in their boots.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/cancelled-again-5616837?ea_src=au-frontpage&ea_med=top-news-opinion-australia-0-large-0

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com/ (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

https://awesternheart.blogspot.com/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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