We’re a small team, passionate about defending all Kiwis' speech rights. With a range of experience and skills and backed by your support, we punch above our weight.
The governing Council of the Free Speech Union is made up of a group of New Zealanders from across the political spectrum who believe that free speech is a value worth defending.
THE CURRENT COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE:
Dr. David Cumin – Academic
Stephen Franks – Lawyer
Ani O’Brien – Writer and Political Commentator
Jordan Williams – Lawyer
Dr. Roderick Mulgan – Barrister and GP
Thomas Newman - Lawyer
Dane Giraud - Screenwriter
Prof. Geoff Plimmer - Academic
Jillaine Heather - Lawyer
Robin Van Ausdall - Public Servant
Douglas Brown - Barrister
The Free Speech Union was formed in 2021 and has grown rapidly. It came from the Free Speech Coalition which began in 2018 out of the need to challenge the Mayor of Auckland after he banned people whose views he disliked and treated Council property as his own. Our job was to fight the expansion of government censorship, by fighting bad legislation and challenging dangerous legal precedents. It was a campaign group, and the central hub of a network of Kiwis who looked at what was happening in the media, academia, and politics, and saw a dire need to protect free speech.
It’s become evident that many New Zealanders are both unaware of how vital freedom of speech is, and how dangerous some of the moves are to exclude its protections. We had to accept that a true defence of free speech cannot begin with fighting government censorship. By the time the state is able to impose censorship, the culture of free speech has already been lost. We must first ensure we have a culture that doesn’t simply tolerate free speech but celebrates it.
One of the early wins for the trade union movement in the 20th century was the idea of the eight-hour day – and that employees are no longer servants to their employers after they clock off. We need to refight for that principle. People should not be punished for expressing views outside of work that don’t relate to their employer.
To compound this, a new form of censorship has emerged which has confounded the traditional division between the public and private spheres. There is a reoccurring pattern to this censorship. It begins with a post online, often on social media but not always. This post is then taken to the employer of the person who posted it, and is used as the basis of a claim that the person responsible for the post should lose their job, usually under spurious health and safety grounds. These claims are often made by anonymous individuals or groups. They amplify the media surrounding the complaint, to put pressure on the employer to fire the offender.
People have lost jobs, friends, careers and livelihoods because their publicly expressed thoughts or opinions were used against them in this manner. Having being part of the Free Speech Union and having to reliable, impartial advice can make a life-changing difference for people who find themselves ostracised and potentially out of work because of nothing more than an expression of their democratic rights to speak freely.
Being part of the Free Speech Union and having access to reliable, impartial advice can make a life-changing difference for people who find themselves ostracised and potentially out of work because of nothing more than an expression of their democratic rights to speak freely.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The Free Speech Union was launched to stand up for the speech rights of our members.
Human beings cannot flourish in an unfree society; they cannot flourish in the absence of free speech.
Free speech is how knowledge is developed and shared, with theories constantly being tested and refined in open inquiry and discussion. It does not matter if someone somewhere is offended, no one, nowhere, has the right not to be offended.
Robust debate, appealing to reason and evidence — regardless of the prevailing orthodoxy — is the best way to resolve disagreements about the most important issues facing society. This is what stops disagreements from descending into violence and intimidation.
Robust debate, appealing to reason and evidence — not the prevailing orthodoxy — is the best way to resolve disagreements about the most important issues facing mankind without descending into violence and intimidation.
We cannot continue to appease the enemies of free speech.
Statement of Values
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