The Free Speech Union says this week’s removal of a
podcast host from an ACT event in Dunedin is a reminder that
free expression cuts both ways, and that everyone in this
campaign, candidates, organisers and audiences, should be
lowering the temperature rather than raising it.
Mike
Bennett says he was removed and later arrested after
challenging an answer ACT candidate Paul Henry gave at a
Dunedin Q&A on Thursday night. Henry disputes this,
saying Bennett was yelling interjections and accusing him of
lying.
“The two accounts don’t line up, and we’re not
going to guess which is right,” says Free Speech Union
Executive Director Jillaine Heather. “But asking a blunt
question of a candidate at a public meeting is a key feature
of a healthy democracy and exactly what free speech
protects. Voters don’t lose that right because the question
is uncomfortable.”
“However, a private event isn’t a
free-for-all either. Organisers can run their meeting how
they like, and asking someone to leave after repeated
disruption isn’t a free speech issue, it’s the ordinary
right of event holders to decide who stays in the
room.”
“This isn’t an isolated moment. This week alone
we’ve seen a man asked to leave a Chris Hipkins meeting,
police step in to protect Ayesha Verrall at a Wellington
debate, and reports of death threats against the Labour
leader. Robust questions are the ordinary friction of a
campaign, but threats of violence and physical intimidation
are not, and we draw a clear line between the
two.”
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“What concerns us more about this incident in
particular is what came after. A trespass notice and an
arrest over a heated Q&A appears to be a
disproportionately heavier response than this moment called
for.”
“The particulars of this incident may be
disputed. Our position is clear: robust, uncomfortable
debate is part of a healthy democracy, and the state should
only step in a proportionate manner and as a last
resort.”
About the Free Speech Union
The Free
Speech Union defends the right of New Zealanders, left,
right and centre, to speak, debate, and disagree freely. A
registered trade union and membership-based organisation, we
take cases, run campaigns, and educate on the importance of
free expression in a functioning
democracy.
