Free speech nobbled

Below is letter published in The West Australian Newspaper:

Shame on Western Australia

Shame on WA, when a visiting politician, who has spoken in the US Senate, the British House of Lords and other European parliaments, is not allowed to speak to people in Perth.

WA residents have been denied the opportunity to listen to visiting Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Why? Because he is opposed to Islam – so what.

The Federal and WA governments refused to even speak to him, let alone provide a venue. Commercial speaking venues have broken contracts for unspecified reasons. Are they all scared of protesters and social activists? So scared that they have stifled free speech and diversity of opinion in WA.

End

In late January I blogged that I was concerned about free speech and freedom of association. Well, in Western Australia Geert Wilders was not allowed to speak in public. The Federal Government would not provide a venue, and Colin Barnett (the State premier) refused any assistance, and said Geert Wilders was not welcome here. Mr Barnett does not speak for all Wesernt Australians.
Commercial venues were also frightened off. Several accepted the booking and then cancelled, the last one which was fully paid for in Perth, Western Australia, cancelled at 9.20 pm on the Friday night before the talk on Wednesday. Due to security concerns, no venue could be found at such short notice. And so, we who had booked tickets were deprived our right to listen to Mr Wilders.
Similar antics occured in Melbourne and Sydney, the Melbourne talk finally took place at a slightly out of town venue, and 500 people paid, attended and braved the agressive protesters, who screamed, shouted and tried to stop people attending. The police had to move in to stop their nonsense. The protesters were unclear if they were protesting about the 'underclass', the Palestinians or Pauline Hanson. I have read Geert Wilders' speech and it is not about class, race, Palestine or Pauline Hanson.
Geert is a proponent of free speech, and as a result of criticising Islam, he has lost his freedom. He has to go everywhere with several full time security people, he cannot walk down the street without security and disguise. He and his wife live in a secret house, and his wife also has no freedom.
Surely governments and social acitivists should be protesting about the Muslims who want to kill him, for merely speaking freely.

But No 

The Government of this country (Australia) will allow people such asTaji Mustafa – the British leader of Muslim extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir; and Sheik Al-Sudais – who says Christians have a poisonous culture and Jews are the rats of the world – into this country to talk. Universities are happy to provide venues, and local councils offer facilities. So if you criticize Christian values, that is all OK; but if you criticise Islamic values, it is an absolute no no, and you will be risking your life.
 It is reported that Julia Gillard has agreed to attend the "Islamic Peace Conference" (a real oxymoron) – to be held in March in Melbourne, which includes many of the extreme Muslim speakers. Will she wear a hijab, out of deference to their cultural values?
It appears that only the politically correct brigade and left-wing progressives have the right in Australia to free speech. But why, when a democratically elected leader of a major party in a western democracy has been invited by Australians to talk, he is not allowed. He is branded by those, who have never really listened to him speak, as 'extreme', and full of 'hate speak'. That is a lie, and those who wish to shut him up because his views are different from theirs, are extreme and full of hate speak.

Shame on us

Our politicians and all Australians should be standing up for free speech, not trying to close it down.